At one with Mary

It is the first day of the new year, and I feel like I am meditating for the first time. How could I have been doing this for so long without having internalized the truth that lies at the core of all this work?

As I rest now, at the center of being, no longer looking outside myself for the Divine, there is a fullness welling up from within that embraces everything around me. And when I had finished I came to my computer to find this image -- which seems a perfect place to begin the year.

She's here because last night, after the fireworks were done and the adult guests had departed, I checked my email one last time before heading off to bed. And one of my fellow bloggers, Kim, had left a message for me entitled "Looking for Mary."

In response, I began absent-mindedly poring over some of the many images of Mary on my computer, and it was one of those folders of Mary images that was open when I returned to the computer this morning after my meditation.

Somehow I had never noticed this one: A Mary who is open, her hands raised in blessing and acceptance; a Jesus encircled within her breast. This could be Mary anywhere along the journey: Mary accepting her role of conception; Mary pregnant with the Divine; Mary holding or raising the infant Jesus, or even Mary knowing after his death that his spirit lives on within her. It feels to me the personification of all our most familiar Mary moments, both the biblical ones:

Hail Mary, Full of Grace (Luke 1:28)

And she kept these words and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
And behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
For he that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his Name. (Luke 1:46 - 49)

And of course this more contemporary ode:

When I find myself in times of trouble,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom,
let it be.

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom,
let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom,
let it be.

We cannot know what the new year will bring; we only know that what has gone before is no more. We are left with now, standing, open, waiting with patience and acceptance for what will be. May we be like this Mary, holding it all safely within our hearts, what was and is and is to come.

Amen, and Happy New Year.