Mary, mother of Christ

(Final installment of the Women of the Christmas story)

I am Mary, and yes, Jesus is my son. Indeed, blessed am I among women. My story is an old one-told and retold from before time began and once again now. It is a story of spirit rather than history, and it's simple and inspiring truth must and will be manifested by the holy spirit rather than by the words of men.

It is a sacred thing-motherhood; whether it concerns the Christ Child, or any one of the precious spirits sent here to the earth. For the pure and undefiled love of a mother for her child brings mankind closer to appreciating the love of God.

Like other mothers, I hoped, dreamed and prayed for the benefits of the child I loved. I prepared meals, swept floors, straightened beds and picked up toys. With him I enjoyed and exalted, sorrowed and wept, learned and grew. He taught me of life and of love~partly because he was the Christ, mostly because he was a child. For me, his mother, he was often a child~reaching, blooming.

It was true what Luke said of me~that after the birth of my son. after the shepherds had come and bore witness to the divinity of my baby, I sat quietly in the soft light and kept all these things and pondered them in my heart.

I was the only mortal alive who knew how I had conceived the Son of the most high. I had been told who he was and what he would become and yet, as I looked at him lying in the manger, he was a tiny babe, needing food and comfort and care. I pondered often and sometimes painfully, and yet, came to a full understanding only when I stood at the foot of his cross. For on that evening in April (celebrated by us on Christmas) was born more than a child. There was born a way of life. The personification of love; the hope of the world form the beginning of time until the end of time. i who conceived him, who nourished him, cared for him and watched him live-and die-give you my solemn word that he was blameless and pure-that he lived to teach and dies to save you. That he was and is and always will be the Son of God. I, Mary, know it to be true.