Unlikliness

The Birthday of the Blessed Virgin, Feast

Micah 5:1-4

Matthew 1:1-16,18-23

Micah is one of the minor prophets.  His concern is corruption and lies. On this feast we read:
The Lord says:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
Too small to be among the clans of Judah, 
From you shall come forth...

I married into a small family...large in numbers, but size-wise, on the petit side. What I have learned is that small really does predict a certain mightiness. And of course that fits in with the gospel message of reversal...the first shall be last etc. 

Mary was a nobody...small in many ways. Bethlehem, the same. And then there is Mary giving birth in the Bethlehem stable and changing the world!

Perhaps my own smallnesses, the things I'd rather not draw attention to, are exactly those things God might treasure in me. Perhaps those smallnesses are what the world at my door needs?

Of Mary's smallness was born Jesus who is called the Christ. MT 1:16