Mary is the believer who knows well the facts that involved her and she never fails to speak of God who reaches her also reaches through poor shepherds. Here she is intent on meditating and guarding what we have seen and heard. There is a beautiful page by J. P. Sartre which describes the relationship between Mary and the
Baby: Mary looks at that son of man for a long time, she looks at him and thinks: “This God is my son. This divine flesh is my flesh. It is made of me, it has my eyes and this shape of his mouth is there shape of mine. He looks like me. He is God and he looks like me ». Between amazement and fear, Mary recognizes that Jesus is man and God. Contemplating the mystery of the Theotokos means recognizing her who generated in the flesh the Son of God, thus starting a new regeneration of the world. If every generation comes from above, from God (cf. Jn 1:13), it is also true that today God associates with himself, as he did with Mary, the Church to make her a fruitful mother. Like every bringing-to-birth, the generation in the Spirit occurs in pain; there is no real birth without labour. As Christians, looking to Mary, we must learn to assume pain in this horizon of faith, which thus becomes the horizon of life.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Santa Maria – Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey