There are classic philosophical proofs for the existence of God that one learns in seminary – Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, and others – all of whom asserted that you can prove God exists via rational argument. Are their arguments compelling? “Yes” for some, “Perhaps” for many, “No” for others. Why such a variety of reactions? On one hand these are not “proofs” in the same manner as say, mathematics. But that is OK, God can’t be empirically proven because God doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t appear in the world as the conclusion to a mathematical equation. God appeared to us as Jesus, come into the world, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

God does not force his way into to our lives in a way that we can’t resist. It seems to me that God always enters the our world in the same way that Jesus did on the first Christmas. God is gestated in a womb and appears as a helpless infant that has to be picked up, nurtured, and coaxed into adulthood. The presence of God in our world, in our lives, depends upon our consent and cooperation. It is as Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your will.”

Mary, Mother of God come into the world, shows us how God is born into our world and she gives us a pattern of how faith is born in our lives. When we look at how Mary gave birth to Jesus, we see that there are four moments in the process:

• Impregnation by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit
• gestation of God within her body
• giving birth, and
• the nurturing of an infant into adulthood.

Impregnation by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t just mean that Jesus didn’t have a human father, but that Mary so let the seed of God’s spirit (charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, long-suffering, fidelity, mildness, faith, and chastity) take root in her that it began to grow into actual flesh. It is the same way with us as we see the internal stirrings of the Spirit.

Gestation of God within one’s body and soul: After we give the seed of God’s spirit a home, a long, slow gestation process occurs – just as it did for Mary “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” In the silent recesses of her heart and body an umbilical cord began to grow between Mary and that new life. Her flesh began to give physical sustenance to the life of God and this steadily grew into a child who, at a point, as in all pregnancies, demanded to be born into the world. It is the same way with our faith as we become ever more connected with God in our internal life of prayer and worship, contemplation and meditation.

The agony of giving birth: Only with much groaning and stretching of the flesh can a child emerge into this world. It is always excruciatingly painful to birth something to the outside world, to take what’s precious inside and give it birth outside. Nothing secretly gestated is born into the world without pain, Jesus included. It is the same way with our faith as people see us change and want us to remain what we were.

Nurturing an infant into adulthood: Annie Dillard once suggested that we always find God in our lives just as the baby Jesus, a helpless infant in the straw who must be picked up and nurtured into adulthood. Speaking of the work of God in our lives, she wrote “That God is helpless, our baby to bear, self-abandoned on the doorstep of [our] time….”Mary gave birth to the baby, Jesus, and like all mothers she had to spend years nursing, cajoling, teaching, and nurturing an infant into adulthood. It is the same way with our faith as it comes alive in works of faith, hope and charity – growing and maturing.

In looking at how Mary gave birth to Christ, we are given a blueprint that invites imitation not simply admiration. Mary is the model of faith. What she did each of us is also called upon to do, namely, give birth to God in our lives. Christmas is for marveling at what once took place, but it’s also for imitation, for continuing to give God flesh in the world.

Francis of Assisi understood that when he wrote: [We are] mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ… mothers, when we carry Him in our heart and body through divine love and pure and sincere conscience and when we give birth to Him through a holy manner of working, which should shine before others as an example.”

How do you prove to anyone, yourself included, that God exists? You don’t. The object of our faith and worship doesn’t appear as a compelling proof at the end of a rational experiment. God has to be gestated into the world in the same way as Mary did all those years ago at the first Christmas. This is what it means to be Christian…. And for our mission in this new year.

May the LORD bless us and keep us!

May the LORD let his face shine upon us, and be gracious to us!

May the LORD look upon us kindly and give us peace!

Amen.