It is so awesome that it makes us weep with admiration and thanksgiving to think that a poor little human creature, our sister human being, had the tremendous honor of forming a body and bringing God into the world. She received him, she guarded him, she enclosed him in the humble, narrow limits of her own body. What a privilege! The creator of the world called her “Mama.” She held him in her arms and cradled him at her breast. You know very well that creation was not a passing gesture, as if God had withdrawn, leaving his work to continue according to determined laws. Creation is actually continuing while I speak to you. If God discontinued his creating action, all beings would instantly return to nothingness. Creation is a work that continues unceasingly. This is a consoling thought, which puts us in the presence of God and into contact with the being of God. Thus the little one who was there under Mary’s eyes was continuing the act of creating the world; he was creating and maintaining his mother in existence.
Père Jacques of Jesus, OCD
Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (French, 1852–1929)
Oil on canvas, 1885
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Thus the little one who was there under Mary’s eyes was continuing the act of creating the world; he was creating and maintaining his mother in existence.
Listen to the Silence - A Retreat with Père Jacques (p. 33) Translated and edited by Francis J. Murphy ICS Publications © Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc.
Leave a Reply