Thursday, November 21, 2002
Presentation of Mary
1st Reading: Zech 2:14-17
Gospel: Mt 12:46-50
While
Jesus was still talking to the people, his mother and his brothers wanted
to speak to him and they waited outside. So someone said to him, "Your
mother and your brothers are just outside; they want to speak with you."
Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is for me brother, sister, or mother."
Commentary
Tradition has it that very early in her life, Mary was taken to the Temple of Jersualem and was educated there. Historically this is hardly tenable. Besides I have never understood the mania of making saints look as a rare species from birth. I prefer to imagine Mary running and playing around in the playgrounds of Galilea together with other boys and girls, having a happy childhood and attending the synagogue on Saturdays with the rest of the children to listen from the lips of the rabbi the beautiful history of her people. There, among her own, with her parents, was surely the place where Mary learned to pray and to be attentive to God's word. There could not be a better place. That is why, when she grew up and matured, she could discover the presence of God not only in the holy actions at the Temple, but also in ordinary life. She understood that her whole life was a sign of the presence of God. That was the best education she could ever have.