Karen Hollis | Dec 14, 2025 Advent 3 | Joy
Luke 1:46b-55 “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
I always look forward to Mary Sunday in the liturgical year. For obvious reasons I enjoy lifting up the women of our tradition, and Mary has a uniquely important role in the Christian narrative. My affection for her is not unique. For centuries, Mary has been beloved. Worldwide the number of Catholic parishes named after her may be in the hundreds of thousands1 and it is rare to find a parish that doesn’t have a statue of her. One would struggle to tally up all the portraits of her in a museum without losing count.
Theologian Richard Rohr has an idea about why we love Mary so much. He writes: “in the mythic imagination, I think Mary intuitively symbolizes the first Incarnation – or Mother Earth.”2 He clarifies: “I’m not saying Mary is the first Incarnation, only that she became the natural archetype and symbol for it.”3 Mary is the symbol for that which brings life, that which births the divine into the world. She is like us, human and sacred, creative and imperfect, life giver and protector of what is growing. And so, we love her – we see ourselves in her – the joy and the ache of birthing and nurturing life. She participates in the miracle that is growing a baby from a tiny speck – from practically nothing to something magnificent. With her yes, she embodies a phenomenon that happens everywhere in the world and through many different forms – the phenomenon of possibilities taking on flesh and engaging the world.
It happens whenever we say yes to God. Sometimes an idea comes out of nowhere – perhaps whispered by the Spirit – and quickly or over time, we give it body and voice. It happens when joy bubbles up in us and we express it in the world. It happens when we give our time and attention to someone. It happens when we build things, like gardens, like homes out of shipping containers, like lunch programs or mobile medical programs. The holy takes on flesh in us and we co-create these initiatives.
The holy takes on flesh in other ways, too. Physicist Richard Feynman used to talk about where trees come from. “Most people think they come from the ground” . . . not so. “They come from the air.” The tree absorbs carbon dioxide, he explains, and photons from the sun kick out the oxygen, like a byproduct, and the tree uses the carbon to build its flesh.4 The tree is rooted securely in the Earth and condenses what was once breath, wind, spirit into the tangibility of matter . . . and the holy takes on form, once again.
Through all expressions of life on earth, the holy is continually birthed. Darkness tries to distort God’s creation and bring death to control and turn a profit. In response, says one commentator, “God doesn’t wave magic wands, God births.”5 God doesn’t wave magic wands, God births. God births trees from breath; God births fish and octopuses by the thousands; God births elephants and blue whales . . . though they take their sweet time.
Through humans, God births people and possibilities for the times in which we live . . . on and on from generation to generation, each of us has gifts to share in the great unfolding of creation.
In an acknowledgement of her own role in creation’s unfolding, Mary sings . . . and we sing with her. We sing praise of God, who births into the world mercy and accountability; belovedness and humility; nourishment and equity. God births creation toward justice, toward wholeness and balance. God’s continual birthing and creative action in the world demonstrates God’s faithfulness to their promises and their nature to support the continuity and thriving of life. Perhaps we go forth today with a sense of wonder and curiosity about God’s invitation to each of us and notice what appears within us and emerges around us. Perhaps we can become ever more intentional co-creators with God, giving body and breath to the seeds of God. Thanks be to God.
1 google search Dec 12, 2025
2 Rohr. The Universal Christ. p. 123
3 Rohr. The Universal Christ. p. 123
4 Richard Feynman, interview at his home in Altadena, California, in 1983, first broadcast on BBC2. Source: YouTube Dec 13, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ww1IXRfTA
5 enfleshed Dec 15, 2019