Cusco was the capital of Peru at the time of the Incas when the Spanish arrived. For the Incas Cusco was the center of the universe. In 1539, the Spanish began construction of the church dedicated to the “triumph” that would eventually become the cathedral. “Triumph”, an obvious reference to their military victory over the Incas. Later, in 1723, they expanded the cathedral with a large chapel dedicated to the Holy Family: Ana, Joaquín, María, José and Jesús. Several centuries later, when I was in Cusco, our tour guide explained how the Holy Family became the central image of ongoing evangelization in the Quichua-speaking highlands.
Today we remember the birth of Mary. In the Gospel, we hear the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham through King David to Joseph and Mary. The list of those ancestors is not intended to be just a tongue twister. It shows the humanity of Jesus through a long family line. It shows how God was working through history carrying out the plan of salvation. The history of the human family of Jesus is full of people of faith, hope – saints. Just as we all have saints in our own families and among the people around us. But it is also full of murderers, adulterers, and cheaters – sinners. A family just like all of ours, we also have confused, wicked or sinful people in our own families and around us. God’s plan goes through a very human family, it includes all kinds of people.
The birth of Mary marks a cosmic shift in our reality. God intervenes in that long and complex human history of the families of Mary and Joseph to make the birth of Jesus possible. Thanks to her experience of faith lived in her family and the transmission of faith from generation to generation, she was able to assume her mission in God’s history of salvation for all of us. In the midst of all those sinners and saints, Mary knew how to choose God’s salvific plan as the center of her life. In Mary: a birth, a life, a faith received from her mother and father and her ancestors, her choice and from there Jesus was born.
God continues to lay out a plan of salvation. Now across all of our family lines, to this day, here with each of us. The birth of a new Christian through baptism is a cosmic moment. In the midst of human history and our own family histories, we are called to choose to be part of God’s salvific plan for all those around us. The transmission of the faith from one generation to the next is essential to accepting our Christian mission. Ana, Joaquín, José, María > Jesús.
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Image: “Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.