Advent Through Mary's Eyes

Advent is a time of preparation. Most of us spend the days leading up to Christmas preparing our homes with decorations, putting up a Christmas tree, purchasing and wrapping presents, and baking delicious treats to enjoy at the upcoming celebrations. We’re told to quiet ourselves and make time for prayer, and to make room in our hearts for Christ Jesus and the celebration of His birth. Though I’ve tried in the past to make Advent a special time of spiritual preparation, I now realize that I didn’t really know what that meant until I approached the last days before Christmas at 37-weeks pregnant, expecting my first child.

I feel as if I’ve been blessed with a unique perspective, that I can journey through Advent with many of the same thoughts, fears, and anticipations that our Blessed Mother had over 2,000 years ago as she too prepared for the birth of her Son. As I organize the nursery and pack my hospital bag, I think about Mary and Joseph preparing for their long journey to Bethlehem. As I try to prepare my mind and body for labor and delivery, I reflect on the fear that Mary must have felt as she and Joseph struggled to find a place for her to give birth. I imagine my Mother Mary feeling the same little kicks and wiggles from the unborn child in her womb, and being filled with the same motherly love and worries.

Through my own preparations for the birth of my child, I feel a deep closeness to the Blessed Mother that I never felt before. I’ve meditated on the sorrows of Mary—the difficulties she faced as the Mother of God, and ask for strength to navigate the struggles that motherhood will bring. I ask her to pray for me and help to guide me in this new vocation as a mother, and help me to understand that my child ultimately belongs to God.

Elizabeth’s beautiful words at the Visitation have taken on a new meaning and understanding for me:

“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”

I pray that my child, like John the Baptist, may always leap for joy in the presence of the Lord. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!