Mary, Mother of Wisdom

I'm spending a lot of time with this icon lately.  It is in our chapel, and we moved it to sit on the "altar" above the reserved sacrament.  We both felt a need to sit with Mary more.

During this period we've been working on the idea - the reality - of Christ Sophia, Jesus as the incarnate Wisdom of God.  This ancient, early idea was submerged in the Western Church for centuries, but it's returned.  It's crucially important for how we view God, and Christ, and ourselves.  And, in conjunction with this icon, it leads me to wild heretical thoughts.

In Proverbs, in Wisdom, in Sirach, and in Psalms we hear of Wisdom as "the first of God's creatures," present from the beginning, in whom God delighted.  I look at this icon, as Jesus' adoring gaze at his mother, and I see Wisdom delighting in her creator.  Mary is the mother of Jesus; if Jesus is Wisdom, Sophia, what does that make Mary?

Now, the Church "fathers" worked hard to mark off this territory, to say that Mary was just a vessel for the (masculine?) Holy Spirit.  Why, exactly, do we need to mark that boundary?  What happens if we stop defending the masculinity of God and let love show itself however it may?

The capacity to bring forth new life is miraculous.  It is a key element in our understanding of God.  If we let go into the love between Jesus and Mary, we see a sign into the love between our Source and humanity.

Mary, mother of God, mother of all, be with us.