St. Ambrose wrote something that caught my eye today. He was reflecting on Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus and John the Baptist in his writing on the Gospel of Luke. He wrote that we are to be as was Mary.
I quote:
“You are blessed because you have heard and believed. A soul that believes both conceives and brings forth the Word of God and acknowledges his works.
Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let her spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith. Every soul receives the Word of God if only it keeps chaste, remaining pure and free from sin, its modesty undefiled. The soul that succeeds in this proclaims the greatness of the Lord, just as Mary’s soul magnified the Lord….” (Ambrose, Lib.2, 19.22-23.26-27: CCL 14, 39-42)
How often do we think of ourselves as being a mother of the Word of God, giving life the the Word within us, a Word we have received from others, handed down to us by the generations, and received anew each day we approach our lives with purity and freedom? We need only say, “Yes! Let it be!” to the Lord’s plan for our lives, regardless of what we thought our plan may have been.
