There's Something about Mary!

It took the controversy generated by "The Passion of the Christ" for Hollywood to realize there was an untapped market of millions of people who in some way had been demographically overlooked when studios thought up new movies. Of course, some had tapped into it before, they just never knew it - there had been major successes for "The Prince of Egypt" and even "Bruce Almighty" on the big screen and/or in video sales. But when hundreds of millions in film proceeds were earned from ticket stubs sold to people who rarely darkened the theatre doors, the studios wondered if there were stories this group held dear, for which they might enter the Cineplex again.

There is a film in the works called simply "Nativity", starring Keisha Castle-Hughes ("Whale Rider"), and it is coming out in December this year. As a bookend to the Passion narrative, with all of its violence, the Nativity narrative is one that concludes in a serene moment of peace. I'll explain what I mean.

My favourite moment with Mary is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two, when an absolute cacophany of events has taken place. Angels have come and heralded Jesus' birth to fearful shepherds. The angels start singing. So the shepherds drop everything, leave their sheep and go running to the manger where Jesus is born. The shepherds tell everyone there about what they had seen.

And while everyone is running around, singing, floating in the sky, heralding... what does Mary do?

"And Mary pondered all these things, treasuring them up in her heart." (Luke 2:19)

This serene and peaceful woman, one who knew the trajectory of her life, who knew the roads she would have to take, simply - as she always did - surrendered to the mystery of the events as they unfolded, and accepted them for what they were. She meditated on them.

I've always taken that as my model of how to be in awe. "And she treasured them up in her heart."