Chances are, by the fact that you take time to read a reflection like this, your family members label you a “religious person.” Religion is contrasted with such meaningful activities as playing golf, watching TV, making money, taking vacations. It is seen as boring, fun-less, obligatory, and what old people who have nothing else to do are interested in.
In Jesus’ time religion was associated with going to Jerusalem and participating in the great celebrations of Judaism. It was exciting. It was fun. People looked forward to travelling to the holy city as much as we look forward to taking a summer vacation. It was not all about keeping quiet while priests gave boring sermons. There was excitement, singing, dancing, mixing with people from various parts of the world, feasting, and getting caught up in the wonder of Temple worship.
And what made Jerusalem and the Temple such a special place? It was a richness of God’s presence there that they called “hesed.” There was something about “hesed” that made people feel love for each other, have their burdens lifted, experience deep peace and security in God. The Psalmist expressed the feelings of the people by saying, “Oh that I could dwell in the house of the Lord all he days of my life,” and “One day in your courts is worth more than a thousand elsewhere.” Being in God’s house was the epitome of joy and satisfaction. This was not a “religious thing” as people think of it today. Everyone wanted to go to Jerusalem!
Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. When Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb, God began a second creation. This time the woman, Mary, would be obedient, in contrast to “Eve number one.” From her womb would come a new race—a second race—that began in the person of her son Jesus, the “new Adam.”
God spoke a Word to bring about his new creation and delivered it through the angel Gabriel. We listen to his words today (Luke 1:26-38).
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail full of grace! The Lord is with you.’”
Let’s stop here for a while. “Full of grace” meant full of the “hesed” of God. That special presence of God that filled the Temple existed within Mary to the fullest. She was brimming over with “hesed”—grace. One of the titles we give her is the “Ark of the Covenant”—that special container in the Holy of Holies in which the presence of God existed in a most concentrated form.
It is only fitting that God would provide such a “hesed vessel” as the place to plant his only Son on this earth. In the womb of this new “Ark of the Covenant” the Word became flesh!
Gabriel explained to Mary:
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”
Mary became the new dwelling place of God on this earth.
When we visit her, it is like visiting the city of Jerusalem in the olden days—joy, peace, love, excitement, fulfillment—are all present in her, because Jesus Christ lives in her.
The Christian “religion” is about having he richest human experience possible. It holds the secret to life. Today we visit Mary and puts us in touch with her son. Does it get any better than this?
“And the Word became flesh and dwells among us” (John 1:14)
