When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom

“Let it be”

And in my hour of darkness

She is standing right in front of me

Speaking words of wisdom

“Let it be”

– Paul McCartney, The Beatles  – “Let It Be”

*Note: For the readers who might be unaware of  what Theotokos means, Theotokos is a Greek term attributed to Mary during the early church and codified as doctrine in the Chalcedonian Definition. Theotokos means the God-Bearer. For the early church this was a vital attribute of Mary because of what it implied for Jesus. Mary bore in her womb the One who was fully God and fully Man.

Life is perennially tenuous and fraught with perils that leave us wounded and limping through the wasteland. Tonight Mother Mary meets me in the wilderness with open arms and a tender touch. And the mystery of the Virgin who gave birth to God warms my heart. In Jesus, God embraces humanity in his very self – very Man is very God. In Mary, humanity embraces God with a Mother’s love and opens our hearts and arms to embrace the One she holds to her chest. In the love of Mother for her Child and Child for His Mother Eden is replanted, and and under the echoes of the Cross the Tree of Life springs anew and the Garden is reopened. This is the Divine exchange  – God’s embrace of humanity, and humanity’s embrace of God.

There is only one answer in the face of life’s inevitable losses, as Mother Mary says, “Let it be.” Love wins, but only by dying. In the face of humanity’s long and hopeless victory march to fashion the world in it’s own image, God loses and says no, “Let it be”. The One who made all things, embraces all things rested in His Mother’s arms just as He rested on the seventh day. We wander in the wilderness, but not without a Mother’s embrace, not without a Father’s embrace, not without a Son’s embrace, not without a Brother’s embrace. We wander but we are not alone and the Embrace will gather all the lost children and bring them safely to God – he made all things for Himself and all things will return to his arms.