Mary comes to be in innocence in the womb of St Anne. It is the first time such innocence has entered into the temple that is the woman’s womb; it will not, however, be the last. (Eve came to be in innocence, but not in the womb of woman, for she was the first woman.) The New Eve, Mary, Mother of Jesus, comes with a soul unstained with sin, unblemished with the tragic selfishness that drives the human heart from its true love and turns it to worship foreign gods; for she is to be the holy of holies in which God’s presence will dwell.
Mary’s heart was pure; her person was pure. She was to receive within her One Who not only came in innocence, but One Who came so that all those whose innocence had long ago been scarified on the altar of distrust and disorder might be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb – the Lamb Who took flesh and blood from the body of a Virgin. Christ came in innocence, from innocence, so that we all might be returned and raised to innocence.
The idea of innocence can be a challenge for us. We can be scandalized by it. At times, we mock it. We mistake it for naivety, gullibility, perhaps even timidity. Perhaps, however, innocence is a challenge for us, for we cannot repress the extent to which we long for it; nor can we fail to be grieved at our inability to achieve it. This places us – if we are honest with ourselves – in a posture of waiting: waiting for One Who can mend what is torn, restore what is broken, heal what is sick unto death: One Who can restore lost innocence, lost integrity.
Through the Son she would bear, Mary was given the grace to enter the world in an innocence that her Son then would offer to any who would be willing to receive Him into their hearts, their souls, their bodies. As we now prepare for His coming on Christmas, let us beg Him for that innocence, that purity of heart that will allow us to receive Him into our souls, so that He might grow in us as He grew in Mary. At such a sight, the angels will surely rejoice.
