Praying with Mary and Clare at Christmas

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, there is much that we can learn from Mary about lifting our hearts to God, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I recently learned a new spiritual practice as I researched this painting of the Annunciation, created by Fra Angelico (the “Angelic Friar”), at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance.

Fra Angelico was a friar in the San Marco Convent in Florence, Italy. Fra Angelico’s beautiful frescoes on the convent walls called his fellow monks to pray. Fra Angelico put Mary in a setting from his own world, on a covered portico with arches. Mary wears a royal blue tunic which indicates her purity and her royal status. The painting reminded the monks that God was present with them and was working in their lives, as God had worked in Mary’s life.

As I researched this painting, I discovered that Mary’s arms are crossed over her heart to indicate her prayer and contemplation of God.

Contemplation means thinking about who God is, and what he is like. We think about God’s beauty, wonder, and love, and we lift our hearts to him. However, Mary was troubled by the angel Gabriel’s announcement.

Mary was not passive. She asked, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34) Yet Mary still chose to say “yes” to God’s will.

Implied in this gesture of crossed arms is Mary’s thanksgiving for being chosen and honored by God.

All of us are chosen by God and like Mary, we can choose to say “thank you” and “yes” to God in return.

When Fra Angelico created this artwork, the world was troubled by poverty, war, and disease. Yet people found peace by praying in the same manner as Mary.

Praying with crossed arms helps us to feel God’s love; it feels like God is giving us a hug! When we receive God’s love, it overflows back to him and multiples to others. Our contemplation leads us to action.

(See more below the angel)

(My angel above was inspired by a detail from another one of Fra Angelico’s paintings.)

Here is a prayer excerpt from another great woman, Clare of Assisi (1194-1253). This prayer also helps us lift our hearts to God and experience the depths of God’s love. (You may insert your name where indicated.)

[Your name] Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!

[Your name] place your soul in the brilliance of glory!

[Your name] [place your heart in the hands of Christ]

Transform your whole being into the image of Christ through contemplation

so that you may feel what his friends feel

as they taste the hidden sweetness which God has reserved

from the beginning for those who love him.*

This Christmas, take time to turn aside and worship. Try praying with your arms crossed as you lift your heart to God, and feel God’s loving embrace.

*Adapted from St. Clare of Assisi, letter to Agnes of Prague, in For all the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church volume four, year 2, The Season after Pentecost,  pp. 1151- 1152.

Join the conversation!

-How does it feel to pray with your arms crossed like Mary?

-How can you take time to lift your heart to God with Mary and Clare this Christmas season?

Please leave a comment below.