THE WOMAN

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 9 December 2013

THE WOMAN

Pause. Call to mind that you are in God’s presence.

Reading. “I will make you enemies of each other; you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring” (Genesis 3:9-15)

Reflection. 8 December was a Sunday this year so the feast of the choice of Mary “before the world was made” (Eph. 1) is deferred to today. She was to be the woman who would “crush the head of the serpent”, “the enemy of our human nature.” But this “Second Eve” would not do it in a day or an hour, nor would she do it violently. She would do it so quietly the world would not notice. She would say her “yes” in her dwelling in Nazareth, such an insignificant town that it is not even mentioned in the lists of the towns of Galilee. This silent “yes” is taken up by her offspring in every age and place, all those who recognise her son as their brother and who put their hand to the plough to labour that the reign of God may come – not with noise and shouting – but like dewfall in April.  

  

Prayer. Lord, we thank you for the gift of Mary on this day of her Immaculate Conception, when we celebrate her “obedience of faith” and her fruitfulness as the Mother of all those who “yes” to you in their daily struggles and hopes.  Amen.