On the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
A new year is beginning, 2022, in which we need a lot of hope. And the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, is all about hope. For in Mary's womb the flesh that we men share became the flesh of God. In Mary, in her body, in the environment that she created around herself, God occurred with us.
Therefore, just as there are lands where certain fruits grow well, as oranges do in Florida, so Mary is the place where hope grows well. She is the place where waiting is easy and a downhill slope.
Mary thus belongs to the topography of hope. We think of those litanies that present Mary as a house or environment: House of gold, Tower of David, Tower of ivory, Spiritual vessel, Honorable vessel, Vessel of choice. We even find “shelter of divinity”, hospitium deitatis in Latin, which invites us to imagine Mary as a house to hospitably welcome a pilgrim and poor God.... And it makes sense to hope “in Mary”. Why do we need to remain in this place that she opens for us?