(This fictional Advent story begins on post dated Nov 28.)
When Mary finished singing the psalm, the man quietly and gently took the peacefully sleeping child out of Mary's arms, and laid her down in her bed. The man smiled and said, "Thank you for bringing peace to my household. You must be so tired yourself, please let me offer you my bed.""It is a very generous offer, but we can not impose. You and your wife should get as much rest as you can. Joseph and I will be content to sleep on the floor. We appreciate you allowing us to stay for the night," Mary replied.
Joseph and Mary were both quite exhausted from the day's journey and they almost fell asleep immediately. As we allow the young Mary of Nazareth to sleep, let us now encounter Mary on a present day path.
Mary slowly walked down a path in the middle of the town's square. Night had just fallen and the trees decorated with shimmering lights looked very beautiful. As she looked across the street, she saw other lights: "Christmas on Sale," "Celebrate the Season," "Buy the perfect Christmas present". She saw people rushing in and out of the stores. Mary sat down on a bench and remembered the birth of her Son. God loved us so much, that He humbled himself to become one of us. The mystery and the magnitude of such great love still overwhelmed Mary with tears of joy. She closed her eyes and remembered the first time she held Jesus in her arms. His face was so beautiful...
"Wow, I just got the deal of the century!" a woman exclaimed with excitement as she sat down next to Mary on the bench. "I am exhausted. Do you know how hard it is for a mother to get ready for Christmas?" She set down a number of shopping bags and began to drink a coffee. "I'm going to need this caffeine if I'm going to have the energy to keep going. You must just be starting, I noticed you don't have any bags. My kids Christmas lists are so long this year. I have to admit, I have put a pretty good dent into their lists already. I can't wait to see how happy they are going to be when they open all their gifts. It's going to be a great Christmas! How about you, do you have any kids?"
Mary smiled and said, "Yes, I very much enjoy celebrating Christmas with my Son. Christmas Mass is always so beautiful to me."
"I wish we had the time to go to mass, but there is always so much to do that day. I always have my side of the family over and I have to get the house ready, do the cooking, get the kids dressed and make sure everything looks festive. You know how that is."
Mary looked tenderly at the woman and said, "You are a very good mother. You obviously love your children very much. If you would allow me, I would like to give you a gift."
The woman was quite surprised and said, "You want to give me a gift? That is such a sweet gesture."
Mary handed her a very small jewelry box with a single bow on top. The woman carefully opened the box and saw a heart necklace. Underneath the necklace was a slip of gold paper that said, "This Christmas, let your heart be filled with the mystery of the Incarnation. God became man for you."
As the woman read the words she unsuccessfully tried to hide her confusion. For the first time in her life, she had no words. Finally she looked at Mary and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand."
Mary replied, "I know you don't. But if you spent your time praying about the Incarnation, and then shared that gift with your children, it would be the most valuable present you could ever give them. Merry Christmas, Cheryl." Then Mary stood up and walked away.
Cheryl sat in silence and stared at the little piece of paper. A few moments went by as she tried to remember the entire conversation. Her eyes grew wide as she thought. She said, "Merry Christmas Cheryl." How did she know my name? Cheryl looked around expecting to see the woman a little way down the path, but she was no where in sight. Cheryl took out her smart phone and googled the word "Incarnation".
(to be continued...)
