She was a simple peasant girl from an obscure village called Nazareth. Yet, no woman in the world has been the subject of so much prose, poetry, painting, sculpture and music as Mary, the mother of Jesus.

There have been gross misunderstandings about her, of course/ There have been excesses, to be sure. Folk cults within the Church have not resisted the impulse to extend, embroider, and amplify what little knowledge of Mary the Scriptures actually reveal.

A lot of "mariology" is almost creepy, and does a great disservice to her and Christianity. In the middle ages, relics of the Blessed Virgin began to appear almost everywhere. One scholarly survey of medieval relics associated with Mary reports that the Sicilian town of Piazza proudly claims to own hairs from Mary's head, and that one European cathedral claims to possess the engagement ring from Joseph to Mary.

These and all the other stories are intriguing perhaps, but the truth is that the New Testament tells us little about this humble woman who inspired all of this, even making the cover of "Time" and "Life" magazines in recent years. In Scripture, we are simply, yet abruptly, introduced to a woman of childbearing age. We are told nothing of her background, her family, her social status, or her daily life. We know of her only in relationship to the story of Jesus Christ.

Her story begins with the vision of an angel, a constant sign in the Bible that something momentous is going to happen. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and, after saluting her as one "highly favored," tells her that she is to bear a son who will be called Jesus. This child will "be great and will be called Son of the Most High. He will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end." Mary simply responds, "Let it be to me according to your word."

After this announcement by the angel, Mary hastens to the hill country of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth who, on Mary's arrival, greets he with words that are now part of one of Christendom's most common prayers: "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, (Jesus)." Mary, in turn, responds with the poetic song that is now called "The Magnificat" because it begins with the phrase, "My soul magnifies the Lord."

Through the richness and simplicity of this story of Mary we have the secret of who Mary really was. With all due respect and admiration, we from Scripture that she was not God. She was not God. She was not to be the object of worship and requests for personal favors. She was, instead, the perfect model of humanity, of humility, obedience, and faith! She was the symbol of the kind of response God would have from all His creation... "Let it be to me according to your word."

So, Mary can help you and me as we continue to celebrate Christmas, the birthday of our Savior. In Mary, we have a symbol of openness to God, of expectation for what God has to offer us, and of an attitude of waiting obedience for God has to offer us, and of an attitude of waiting obedience for what God would have us do for Him!

Our Christmas prayer continues to be that we, too, might possess Mary's attitude of expectation, of readiness and receptivity to God's grace; that we too might grasp this awareness: Our lives are lived in daily ordinary routines, but all in God's grace, His grace alone, and what truly "counts" is our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. Its as simple as that as simple as Mary.