Coming to Know Grace
Recently I spent four days with my primos who have four little ones under the age of six. They are outnumbered! I watched them constantly making sure the baby was fed or changed, and the older ones didn't run out of their sight. I was amazed by my prima during the holiday--making sure the littles were well dressed, lovingly hosting family members, and diligently preparing the meal for Nochebuena. There is something about watching moms in action that suspends my disbelief about superheroes. “It comes with many challenges,” she humbly said when we praised her for her superpower. And while it is true that I may not have experienced her on a challenging day, I do believe mothers don’t get enough credit for all that they give of themselves.
The Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, a day dedicated to celebrating and honoring Mary’s motherhood and the role she played in the life of Jesus. Mary sometimes was presented to me in a stoic or cold way growing up. Her perfect nature seems too otherworldly, making her a role model that can be hard to relate to sometimes. Scripture says that she was chosen for being “full of grace” and having found “favor with God.” As I watch women around me become mothers, I am learning that grace is not a polished, cookie cutter picture that we often paint. Grace is a woman in labor, in its messiness and pain, giving birth to a child. Grace is a mom changing another diaper, even though she just changed her baby thirty minutes ago. Grace is a mom feeding her children before herself, it is parenting children to be goodhearted, and cleaning after others into the night. Grace is a mother breastfeeding her baby, perhaps feeling some pain on her breast or closing her eyes for a moment while her child is being nourished. Grace, truly, can be found in humanity.
In Mary we come to know that Grace is a mother choosing life even though she is unwed and young. In Mary we come to know that Grace is a mother fleeing persecution and violence to ensure the safety of her child. In Mary we come to know that Grace is a parent raising a human to be compassionate and kind. In Mary we come to know that Grace is a mother walking by the side of her child in joyful and hard moments, even in undeserved death. In Mary we come to know that Grace is not otherworldly as I thought, it's messy and human and makes meaning. In Mary we come to know that maybe Grace has always been there, actively present, just like Jesus, here with us.
May the Solemnity draw us closer to Grace through Mary’s motherhood. As we look to others--in our families, communities, and world--may we learn to recognize Grace in small moments each day. May we choose to acknowledge Grace and let it guide us:
Grace before we judge mothers at the US Mexico border.
Grace in the tears of the grieving Palestinian mothers who have lost their children in the Israeli Hamas conflict.
Embodied in the activist mother who is calling for gun reform after losing her son to gun violence.
Embodied in the mother holding her child in her arms for the first time after a painful labor.
Grace in our own mothers who gave us life.
Do I see Mary as a role model for my own journey? What role does Grace have in my life? How can I invite God’s grace into my life as we enter a new year?
Ana López