September 1, 2026
O Mother,
where would I be if not for you?” asked Jesus. Micah 5:2 Prophesy. Holy
Spirit, God’s glory-presence, the spouse of Mother Mary, the ‘love gaze’
between the Father and Son, and the teacher of wisdom (1 Cor 2:10-16), “Where
would I be if you did not overshadow my mother (Lk 1:35) and be present as a
dove with my Father at my Baptism?” (Mt 3:16-17) “Father Joseph, where
would my mother and I be if you were not there with us on the journey of many miles
over rough terrain and resident danger that all travel entails.
From Nazareth
to Bethlehem in 5 B.C. (129 kms) to pay Roman Taxes, and where I was born in a
stable and lay in the manger. Then to Jerusalem (10 kms) after 40 days to present
me at the Temple for my purification and circumcision. Back to Bethlehem (10
kms) for the Magi to venerate me and give me gifts - gold, frankincense and
myrrh (Mt 2:22) that represent my kingship, priesthood, and also how I would
die.
[Note:
Luke states that after the purification in Jerusalem, the family returned to
Nazareth: When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the
Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the
child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God
was on him. (Lk 2:39-40)
From
Bethlehem, you took us to Egypt (60 km) to escape Herod’s wrath. After Herod
died in 4 B.C., we returned to Nazareth another way.
You were
warned in a dream that Herod Archelaus, the eldest surviving son of Herod the
Great, was the new ruler of the area. Like his father, Archelaus ruled with
tyranny and cruelty. [John Gill's Exposition of the Bible states
that one time he sent his entire army into Jerusalem's temple, at Passover, to
kill 3,000 men suspected of sedition.]
What can I
say about my mother?
She beheld
my suffering in her heart from the time of my purification in the Temple. ‘Then
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is
destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a
sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the
thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul
too.” (Lk 2:34-35)
While the
Old Testament foreshadows and prefigures my coming, when I think of my mother, I
go back to the very beginning of time. I know John, my beloved apostle, said
about me: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him
all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him
was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Jn
1:1-5)
And then
there was my cousin John the Baptist, born to my mother’s cousin, Elizabeth. My
mother, with me in her womb, made haste over many miles to see her cousin. She
was with a child in her old age. My mother sensed that she just had to be there
to help her cousin and introduce John to me – while still in our mother’s wombs.
‘He came as a witness to testify concerning that light (that’s me) so that
through him all might believe. He himself was not the light (John said);
he came only as a witness to the light. (Jn 1:6-8)
We spoke
of how I was born through the ‘overshadowing’ of the Holy Spirit. ‘Overshadowing’
was nothing new. Where God is present - a crucial interjection is needed here:
God is One, but three Persons – God the Father, God the Son (me), and God the
Holy Spirit – there will be overshadowing. May there be no confusion about this
mystery.
Here are the key biblical instances where the Holy Spirit (or
God’s glory-presence) “overshadowed,” followed by the theological connection
from Genesis to Mary as illuminated by Bible scholars and Church Fathers who believe
in me:
Spirit hovering over the waters (Gen 1:2); Glory-cloud
overshadowing Sinai and the Tabernacle (Ex 24:15–18; 40:34–35); Cloud filling
Solomon’s temple (1kgs 8:10-11); Cloud overshadowing at the Transfiguration (Mt
17:5; Mk 9:7; Lk 9:34).
Bible scholars and Church Fathers read these texts typologically:
the same divine presence that hovered at creation and overshadowed
Israel’s sacred dwellings now overshadows Mary, making her the living
sanctuary of the Word.
Key links scholars emphasize: Creation → New
Creation: The Annunciation is thus a new creation event: the Spirit who
brought life at the beginning now brings forth the incarnate Life in Mary’s; Tabernacle/Temple
→ Mary as the new Tent of Meeting: the Shekinah glory that filled the
Tabernacle prefigures the Holy Spirit’s overshadowing of Mary; Ark of the
Covenant → Mary, Ark of the New Covenant: The glory-cloud “overshadowed”
the Ark in the wilderness (Ex 40:34–35; Num 9); Sinai’s Law → Word made
flesh: At Sinai, God’s presence descends on the mountain to give the Law.
In the New Covenant, God’s presence descends into Mary so that the Lawgiver
Himself becomes flesh; Mary as “bride of the Holy Spirit” (theological
language): While Scripture does not use the exact phrase “bride of the Holy
Spirit,” theologians speak this way to express Mary’s unique spousal
relationship to the Trinity in the economy of salvation: the Spirit “espouses”
her in the Annunciation so that she conceives the Son. The overshadowing is the
nuptial act of the New Covenant, parallel to the Spirit’s covenantal “marriage”
to Israel symbolised by the cloud and the Ark.
Luke’s Visitation narrative (Lk
1:39–56) intentionally parallels 2 Samuel 6: David bringing the Ark to
Jerusalem:
- Ark goes to the hill country of Judea →
Mary goes to the hill country of Judea.
- David/John “leap” in the presence of the
Ark/Mary.
- “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
→ “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
- Ark stays three months → Mary stays three
months.
- The contents of the old Ark (tablets of
the Law, manna, Aaron’s rod) find their fulfilment in Mary’s womb: the
Word made flesh, the Bread of Life, the eternal High Priest.
What more can I say about my mother? To
quote John, the beloved, who said about me: Jesus did many other things as
well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the
whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (Jn 21: 25).
Who in your life, if it were not for
them, would you be here?
-
Mathew Anthony
