Mary’s Cross
It is nine months to Christmas. I guess this year with all the snow we just might as well make the jump and go right to Christmas. We are all tired of the snow, the snowbanks, and the dirty snow. Even the children that once enjoyed climbing snow piles ignore them.
If you think for a moment, the snow has become something of a cross we need to bear for now. And every time we get another inch, we grudgingly pick up our shovels. Or not. Maybe we just walk down our sidewalks kicking what snow we can off to the side hoping the sun will come out and melt the snow before we must shovel.
I was thinking of Mary’s life. They seldom had snow, but they had their challenges. Every day they would have to walk to the well for water. The grain would have to be ground by hand into flour to make the daily bread. You would have searched for firewood in a country that had few trees.
If they had any animals they would have to be taken out to search for food. Most people would have had some trade such as carpentry, seamstress, potterer, or some other necessary skill. You would have also had to pay attention to the Romans. They could demand you serve them at any time or place. Mary had many crosses to bear with just her daily life.
Then, the angel Gabriel appears. He tells Mary she is to conceive and bear a son. Mary says yes to another form of the cross. A yes that will complicate her life inexplicably and cause her great pain and suffering. How could she do this? Only one way, she believed and trusted God. That became her cross.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen