Barrenness and Fertility
“Be glad, O barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in travail, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:1)
ON DECEMBER 9, the Church commemorates the conception of the Virgin Mary. This is another story that is nowhere recorded in the Old or New Testaments, but it was known to the early Christians, and it is also to be found in the Gospel of James.
Mary’s mother, Anna, was barren, but God heard her prayer and gave her a daughter in the person of Mary, whom Anna vowed to dedicate completely to God. The birth of significant people by barren women is a miracle we encounter several times in the Scriptures. Isaac, the son of Abraham, was conceived by the barren Sarah (Gen. 18; 20); the Prophet Samuel was conceived by the barren Hannah (1 Kg. [1 Sam.]), and John the Baptist was conceived by the barren Elizabeth (Luke 1).
This serves as a reminder of our own spiritual barrenness and, notwithstanding this sterility in virtue, the possibility of yielding the fruits of repentance, however late it is. The barren women of the Bible put their trust in God and prayed fervently with faith and hope. So too should we not despair of our own lack of spiritual fruit, but rather pray all the more ardently that God may help us nurture the seed of repentance. Just as the holiest of men and women came forth from barren wombs, so can the greatest fruit of repentance spring forth from a single mustard seed (Matt. 13:32).
With but one talent of grace, we can increase in virtue and holiness, if we turn to God in faith and repentance. The barren Sarah became the mother of many nations; the barren Anna became the mother of the woman who would give birth to the salvation of the human race; and all who lack virtue can become holy. Even the greatest sinner can become the greatest saint.
~Vassilios Papavassiliou, Meditations for Advent: Preparing for Christ’s Birth
