Diocese’s vicar for evangelization presents Advent reflection on Blessed Virgin Mary

CHATHAM TOWNSHIP  The Blessed Mother lives a precious meditation, as she gazes down in awe upon the Christ Child in “La Nativite de Notre-Seigneur Jesus-Christ,” a painting by James Tissot (1886–1904). In the masterpiece, Mary kneels reverently before the Baby Jesus, who lies on a white cloth naked with his arms stretched upward and outward and is bathed in bright white light.

Father Paul Manning, executive director of St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison, gave an audience of faithful in Corpus Christi Church here a moment to look at large video screen that displayed “La Nativite de Notre-Seigneur Jesus-Christ,” so they could pick out details — along with insights — about Mary and Jesus. On Dec. 7, he presented an Advent reflection, “Roses in December,” both live in the church and on livestream, that contemplated the Blessed Mother during Advent: this season of waiting for Christ’s birth, which leads up to Christ’s birth at Christmas in two days. Father Manning, also diocesan vicar for evangelization, told attenders, “Mary only has eyes for Jesus” in Tissot’s painting and has a “corporal connection with the Eucharist” that Jesus shares with us today.

That night, Father Manning guided the audience through the practice of Visio Divina by looking at artistic renderings of Mary on the large screen in front of Corpus Christi’s altar, reading related Scripture and poems, reciting prayers, listening to songs, and then reflecting on their meaning in their lives. He focused on three images related to three feasts of the Blessed Mother in December: the Immaculate Conception, or the “The Conception Rose,” whose feast day is Dec. 8; Our Lady of Guadalupe, or “The Maternity Rose,” whose feast day is Dec. 12; and Christmas, or “The Nativity Rose,” on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The priest said that Mary is a model of faith for us, because her “soul always magnifies the Lord” and because she carried out God’s will always. Father Manning also invited audience members to give their insights about the works of art.

“In the painting [by Tissot], Mary ponders her son in her heart. We should only have eyes for him too,” said Father Manning, who noted that the word Bethlehem is translated “house of bread” and that Jesus was placed in a manger, which housed food for sheep — images that both foreshadow Christ in the Eucharist. “Mary is the mother of the Eucharist and adorer of the Body of Christ. Jesus entered human history in a particular time and place, and through the Eucharist, he extends that to all times and places in every corner of the world,” he said.

Some attendees of the Dec. 7 refection observed that “La Nativite de Notre-Seigneur Jesus-Christ” also could prefigure Jesus’ crucifixion, because his swaddling clothes resemble a burial cloth and his hands, shown upward and outward, could look like he is showing his wounds of crucifixion. They also read Luke 2:1–7 about the Holy Family coming to Bethlehem for the Roman census and read “Mary’s Song,” a poem by Luci Shaw, who writes of Christ Child, “Older that eternity, now he is new.”

The first image, “The Immac­ulate Con­cep­­tion” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1767–96), shows Mary trampling the head of the Devil, as the serpent that persuaded Adam and Eve to eat the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. The Holy Spirit, which blessed her with the Christ Child, descends from above. Cherubs hold lilies as a sign of Mary’s purity. In the painting, the Blessed Mother shows that “she means business, doing whatever it takes to do God’s will,” Father Manning said.

“Mary is what we should become. She has original goodness — without sin. Sin makes us less than we are meant to be. Original sin marks us but does not obliterate us. Baptism restores us to the possibility of avoiding sin,” said Father Manning, who urged the faithful to say “yes” to God — as Mary did in the Annunciation — everyday to “cooperate with God’s idea of what he made us for,” he said.

In the image, “The Tilma of Juan Diego,” Our Lady of Guadalupe is shown with stars on her cloak, a maternity belt as a sash, and a necklace with a cross. In December 1531, Juan Diego, a peasant of the Aztec Empire in modern Mexico, saw four apparitions of the Blessed Mother. The local bishop asked Diego bring back a sign that proves that these events took place. He brought back roses that bloomed in the snow — in the midst of winter. Mary came to a peasant in a form that he could understand, Father Manning said.

“So too, God comes to us in the person of Jesus, in the guise of humanity and clothing, whom we can understand,” Father Manning said. Sometimes rejoicing in Jesus comes in silence, the priest said. During the Visitation, St. John the Baptist, then in Elizabeth’s womb, leaps with joy, as he senses that his cousin, Baby Jesus, is nearby in the belly of Mary.

“We do not always have to proclaim the Gospel with words. We can be so full of Jesus [like Mary was during her pregnancy], that we not have to talk about him,” said Father Manning, who did advise the faithful first to befriend and get to love people, before evangelizing them. “Jesus is hidden in the womb of the Church in the Sacraments. We can’t see him but he is there. When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus is within us. We bring him out into the world,” he said.

During the “Roses in December” presentation, Father Kevin Corcoran, Corpus Christi’s pastor, praised Father Manning for his ability to “bring art, prayer, Scripture, and poetry together in a respectful way” to help us “recognize Christ in ourselves, so we can bring Christ to others. Advent prepares us for that.”