Writing in the Snow

+PAX+

Greetings to the whole world, but perhaps especially to those in my corner of the globe, and those whom I am fortunate to know and call friends. After a long hiatus from blogging I have decided to take up the virtual quill again. Rather than restart on one of my previous blogs, I looked out my window at the fresh snowfall here in Minnesota and realized that just as it is a joy to go out and be the first down the snowy path so too would it be better to begin anew.

The snow itself also inspired me in naming and designing this new blog - and those who know me are not surprised in the least! =) For God still knows me by Sr. Neva, I am sure, from my time with the Benedictine sisters. When I received the habit, Mother Prioress was inspired by the Holy Spirit to name me for Our Lady of the Snows, in honor of the Basilica of St. Mary Major which was in turn in honor of the great declaration of the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 that Mary is Theotokos, "Mother of God", and not only the mother of Jesus' humanity. What a glad surprise it was to hear my religious name be announced as being this title of Our Lady, for I had not spoken of my devotion to Our Lady of Snows to anyone, not even Mother! I could see the smile of God present in this gift of a name, and so how can I help but continue to smile back? =)

My devotion began quite a few years ago now, when I first returned to God and embraced the Catholic Church of my youth. I learned of the tradition of the feast day of August 5th, of Our Lady of the Snows and, when later on I was blessed to go to Rome, first on pilgrimage and then to study, I fell in love with the Basilica itself as being a true spiritual home to me. Why?

For one thing, this is the church where there is a sense of Christmas all year round, because kept within the church is a relic of the Christ-Child's manger. While one might argue the scientific authenticity of the relic, one cannot deny that it does what relics are ultimately meant to do - lead you closer to the Lord through contemplation of their story. And while the Cross is at the center of our faith, we often forget that in order to get to the Cross our Lord first was a Child, born of Mary. We too must always stay close to Mary and her Child, if we desire to enter into the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection. We say "Stay with us, Lord", but our Lord says to us in response, "Stay with My Mother!"

The second major attraction that the tradition of Our Lady of the Snows and the Basilica of St. Mary Major have for me has to do with the Basilica itself - it is nearly a living witness itself to the growth and spread of Christianity throughout the ages, being one of the oldest churches maintained as well as the first major church dedicated to Our Lady. To walk into this church, so ancient and yet so vibrant and young in its atmosphere, is to feel deep in your bones the reality of the Church through the ages as the Body of Christ. Of the four patriarchal basilicas, St. Mary Major is the church of child-like wonder, of joy, and of celebration in being a Christian. St. Peter's is majestic, and bears witness to the struggles of the early Church and the development of her doctines. St. John Lateran is the Pope's own church, the Cathedral of Rome, and it is a very Roman church. St. Paul's Outside the Walls is arguably a tomb more than a church, though of course St. Paul himself would rather the focus be on what he did rather than on where he lies buried now.

Only in St. Mary Major is the focus on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, on the joy of His birth and coming, on the loving and comforting reality of Mary as being given to each of us as our own Mother by our Lord Himself.

And so, I take my cue for this new blog from what I have learned so far from Our Lady of the Snows - to say "yes" to God continually, to seek out the joy of Christ's presence in all the people in my life (that means you, too!), to renew the Nativity in my heart each day, and to seek out and share with the world the things that show our Christian joy. After all, as Chesterton said, "joy... is the gigantic secret of the Christian." But it should not be a secret, and our Christian vocation in the world is to share this secret far and wide, without becoming distracted or dismayed by the evil we see all too easily, and perhaps even do more easily, it may seem.

Where to start? Why not with this poem, which inspired this blog's name, as we continue to celebrate the Christmas season during this Octave of Epiphany:

The Feast of Snow

by G.K. Chesterton

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and snow
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of earth is a raging mirth,
And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn,
Where the Child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet,
At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown;
The gods lie cold where the leaves are gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.

~