Third week in Advent, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006.

Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-14. Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 1:26-38 also see Matthew 1:23

Mary now is the center of our Advent celebration today with the reading of the Annunciation. We know now that what she has consented to is the growth of the baby who is her God and her Son. She now is truly the God-bearer, the Mater Dei, and the Theotokos. The first reading helps us to look at her from a previous perspective of a prophetic text that probably was written somehwere between 742-701 B.C. I have researched this text many times, but share with you my own "feelings" about it today. Here is the text upon which I prayed this morning: Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (God with us!)" Two of the earliest theologians of the Christian religion were the first to reflect on this verse and interpret it through the event of the virgin birth and the Incarnation. Justin, the philosopher turned Christian did this in 150 A.D. and Irenaeus, the first true marian theologian and father of marian theology, did this later, perhaps, around 180 A.D. This text then became one of the favorites of the Fathers of the third to the fifth and ensuing centuries in what were known as "catenae" or chains and links of Scripture passages that could be used for preaching and teaching to the Christian people. Today we continue to ponder over and relish this passage especially at this time of year. Christmas cards keep the prophetic verse alive while theologians and scripture scholars continue to analyze the text within its historical and prophetic contexts. For me the text is inticing in its polyvalence and its tradition both within its historical and Judaic context, and, of course for me, in its Christian interpretation and marian connotation. Texts such as this one are our teachers. They motivate, challenge our own personal interpretations, and they help us in our spiritual journey of praying and reflecting. Sometimes the most difficult or hard sayings of the texts are the ones that are getting to the heart and soul of our spiritual life. I personally do not use the text as a "proof" text nor do I think that Matthew uses it as a proof; rather he has it within the context of Joseph's dream and call not as a proof text, but rather as a fulfillment of God's promises. Matthew is focusing on the child, the Savior, Immanuel or God with us rather than on the virgin Mary his mother. Yet, she cannot be removed from the dream, the text, nor from our tradition as we ponder both Isaiah and Matthew. Like Joseph we have to be awakened from our own mental constructs and our own interpretations and enter into the heart of the messages of God received in both the Scripture and a living tradition that has a Church giving the Scriptures to us through the liturgy as well as through academic and personal study and contemplation. Rather than fight about the text we need to enter into it with all of the different doors that open us to it. I see the text of Isaiah 7:14 as a "sign and symbol" that belongs to my Catholic faith that tells me the promises of God are being fulfilled through the birth of the Messiah who is the son of the Virgin Mary. The birth is the mystery of the Incarnation as an event not as a theological concept. This event is a fulfillment of the promises God has made in salvation history. Like Joseph we are awakened when we think about this text with the assent of faith. Joseph had a unique role in this mystery of Mary and her child as he tries to wrestle with her fidelity as a virgin in conceiving and then birthing the baby. He continues his unique role throughout the stages of life that he shares with Mary and with his legal son and his marriage to Mary. He protects them from all harm while respecting the integrity of Mary's entire person. It all is an incomprehensible mystery but one that has made a difference for me in what the true meaning of Christmas is---the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the Virgin Mary. Amen. P.S. Do not forget to ponder the text within Matthew 1:18-25.