This 4 session course could be used for a 4 separate, one hour week day, study group or an Advent Study day for small groups: In person or on line.
As Franciscans, we are drawn to the mystery of the Incarnation: God made flesh, born in poverty and received with reverence amongst animals and straw.
St Francis, through the first crib at Greccio, wanted people to understand the reality of Christ’s birth – not as a distant doctrine, but as an intimate, vulnerable, embodied truth.
He wanted the people of his time to see, touch, and draw closer to the humility of God who comes close.
In our own time, the “Creating space in the womb“ materials continue that vision, inviting us to look not only at the Christ Child in the manger, but to ponder the hidden months before birth, when Christ was being formed in Mary’s womb.
Here, we reflect on a deeper dimension of the Incarnation: the theology of the womb, and Mary’s courageous, costly “yes” that made room for God in her very body.
This Advent, our study group materials will explore four themes that gently unfold this mystery of sacred gestation.We will reflect on:
- Mary’s “Yes” and the Making of Space
Her hospitality was not symbolic, but physical. She made space for the Word to become flesh – an act of trust, surrender, and faith. - The Womb as Holy Ground
Christ’s humanity began in the darkness of the womb, formed cell by cell in silence and mystery. What does it mean to say that God was once hidden, dependent, becoming? - Mary’s Broken Body and the Cost of Incarnation
The pain and labour of Mary’s body anticipate the broken body of Christ on the Cross. Her suffering could be seen as part of the story of Salvation. - Making Room for Resurrection — Birthing Christ Today
In our time, pregnancy scans allow us to glimpse what Mary carried by faith.These images invite us to meditate on the fragile, hidden, beautiful
beginnings of divine life – in her womb, and in ours.
Each week, we draw on scripture, Franciscan tradition, and art, as well as contemporary insights into pregnancy and maternal sacrifice.Through reflection, conversation, and prayer, we are invited to enter into the slow, quiet miracle of God growing in the womb , and to ask what it means to prepare space for Christ to be formed within us, too.
This is not only a study . It is a spiritual pilgrimage toward the crib and the cross.
It is a way of waiting with Mary, with Francis, and with the Church.
It is a time to honour the quiet strength of the God-bearer and the hidden holiness of gestation.
As we journey through Advent, may we learn to wait with wonder, to make space with courage, and to allow Christ to be formed anew in the womb of our hearts.
