Oh Mary, dear Mary, How great must your faith be?

To submit to the will of God, At the annunciation That you shall give birth To the almighty

With full faith, You proclaimed, “let it be unto me According to your word”

Embodying proverbs 3, you trusted in the Lord With all your heart And leaned not On your own understanding

Oh how proud your ancestor Sarah Would have been, Had she seen your wisdom

To trust in the Lord At the mere age of a teenager

Whilst she doubted Him At an age past wisdom

Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was of little faith, Couldn’t fathom how she could give birth, At such an old age,

So she took matters into her own hands, Commanded Abraham To have a child out of wedlock

As if some things might be hard, Even for God…

If she laughed At the thought That God would give her a son Past menopause…

Would she have wept now, If she saw Just how readily You accepted the seemingly impossible Annunciation from above?

That you… a 14 year old virgin, Shall give birth to a son, And remain a perpetual virgin For life…

Accepting an even mind-blowing miracle Defying human biology

If Sarah saw your faith-full response To the news that you shall bear a son, As a Virgin, She’d truly weep

For surely God who can enable Birth by a Virgin, Can grant a married woman a child, No matter how far away She may have been Past child bearing times

Oh Mary, what was the size of that baby, That you carried in your tummy? What heaven couldn’t contain, you carried in your belly

Oh Mary, how clean you must be For God to dwell in you And grow up to call you Mommy

Oh Mary, Howard great is your humility?

To be in exile During pregnancy

To humbly give birth in a stable Whilst knowing That your Son Is the source of the world’s stability

How generous is your heart That you would share your Son With us

Overcoming the temptation Of a mother’s undying need To protect her child

To instead Be faithful To the will of God Even at the painful foot of the cross Where you might have wished They’d have spared Him And crucified you instead

Oh how difficult Is the sorrow Of a mother’s heart To witness the suffering And death of Her only begotten son Innocent of any sin At that…

Oh but you stood faithful to your words

“Let it be done unto me, According to your word”

Allowing the will of God to be done Just as He intended No matter how difficult

I marvel at your obedience In awe, I marvel at your thoughts In awe, I marvel at your discernment

To always put above your will, the will of your Creator

In awe, I marvel At your faithfulness to God

Many have tried, But none even come close To the type of Christian you are

The very first disciple of your Son, the Christ

You truly are the letters With which we learn Christ Just as we sang In Sunday school: Singing “Mariam fidel, Yehulu memariya, Benitshina, benitshina Tesifalechin”

“Oh Mary, you are the letter, Through which everyone learns, For you are written in utmost purity”

Indeed my Lady, You are a marvel To all of humanity

So this Christmas And for all of our lives We give thanks to you For sharing with the world Your beloved Christ!