"When peaceful silence lay over all ..., your powerful word leaped down from heaven." These words from the Book of Wisdom form our Opening Antiphon today. In the light of Christmas, they bear for us a very profound meaning.

The Mediterranean world into which Jesus was born was, by human standards, a peaceful one. The Romans had conquered most of that world and imposed their "roman peace". The Gospel, and the Liturgy of the Church, however, calls us to deeper reflection and to understand that the true place of "peaceful silence" was in the heart of Mary, for she was the one who heard the powerful word of God. Her heart was prepared to listen to God through her Immaculate Conception, for her heart was not burdened with the sinful noises stemming from the world, the flesh and the devil. Free to hear the word of God, she was equally free to listen to it, to accept it, and so to respond to it. It was this powerful word of God that created for us the possibility of entering into a silence, like that of Mary and experience the empowering truth of God's love for us.