A man talking about what it means for a woman to give birth? This seems like a topic about which women need to speak. After all, biological males can’t get pregnant and carry a fetus to term and give birth. At the same time, there are some things I’ve observed about the experience of pregnancy. Of course, pregnancy is an individual experience. When discovering that one is pregnant, there can be a wide range of emotions from happiness and exhilaration to fear and dread. Some women seem to glow when they are pregnant. Other women experience weeks of morning sickness. In the third trimester, some women are energetic and want to be physically active while other women have difficulty moving with ease or just getting up from a chair. What I’ve perceived about pregnancy is that there isn’t one “normal” experience but many different emotions and physical realities.
In the Advent season, the weeks before Christmas, we’re invited to reflect on the life and pregnancy of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Over the centuries, Mary has been sanitized for our comfort. We’ve been presented with pious interpretations of Mary’s experience: that she effortlessly glided through pregnancy and gave birth to Jesus while being free from all challenges and concerns because of her great faith. That doesn’t make sense at all. Mary was a young, teenage girl. Her pregnancy was a scandal. We have no idea whether she had morning sickness or other discomforts, but she was surely aware that many women died in childbirth. Particularly at risk were women giving birth before the age of 20. (Scholars believe Mary was probably 12 or 13 years of age.) In addition, up to 30% of newborns died within the first year of their lives. I believe it’s safe to assume that Mary had very real concerns for her safety as well as for the safety of the new life growing within her. Given that every aspect of life was challenging in her time and culture, Mary’s pregnancy couldn’t have been easy.
Yet, Mary surely had moments of excitement and joy. Pregnant women often experience a sense of wonder when they first feel the fetus kick and move about. She must have talked with her friends about preparation for the new baby. Perhaps Joseph made a cradle or crib. For Mary, as for other women who are pregnant, there were surely some very positive experiences as well as concerns and physical challenges. That’s all part of being pregnant.
In the context of the ups and downs of pregnancy, the joys and the challenges, it’s important to remember that the author of the gospel attributed to Luke conveys that Mary’s response to the news of her pregnancy was indeed one of faith. The ancient story tells us that she exclaimed, “My soul glorifies God!” That’s how many contemporary English translations of the Bible capture her reaction. But I prefer an older translation: “My soul magnifies God!”
To magnify is to make something bigger. The translator is saying that Mary recognized that her very being was making God bigger. By making God bigger, God was becoming more evident, clearer to see, and a more accessible reality. Indeed, based on the ancient story, by giving birth to Jesus, that’s exactly what Mary did: make God bigger, clearer, and more accessible.
While that’s part of the ancient story we tell at Christmas, I find that I’m drawn to the words of the 13th Century German mystic, Meister Eckhart. It was Eckhart who said, “What good is it to me that Mary gave birth to the son of God … and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? … God is always needing to be born.”
Eckhart is right: if I am not opening myself to give birth to the Christ in the world today, then that first Christmas doesn’t matter a great deal. On its own, it’s a nice story. But opening myself so that my inner being magnifies God, then something miraculous happens today.
Allowing God to be born in us, allowing our very being to magnify God, calls us to take seriously our spiritual practice as well as our ways of interacting with others. Does our spiritual practice help to ground us in peace, in compassion, and in wholeness? Do we, in turn, grow in reflecting peace, compassion, and wholeness to others in our daily lives? In our interactions with others and magnifying God’s presence in the world, the words of Maya Angelou come to mind: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
The process of giving birth to God in our own time and culture can be compared with an actual pregnancy. Like pregnancy, there are moments of joy and exhilaration. But there are also difficult times and frustrations. We should never have the illusion that prayer and spiritual practice are always easy and fulfilling. But like an actual pregnancy, there’s a variety of experiences that come together to mark the process that leads to new birth.
As we continue through Advent in preparation for Christmas, let us remember that Christ is only born in our time and culture when God is magnified in us. The magnification of God in our lives is more than just a pious feeling for ourselves. Instead, when God is magnified in us, others will experience that Presence in and through us.
Photo by Myriams-Fotos at Pixabay.com