Madonna: the face of a promise

The name Madonna has lost its original meaning to a recent generations. The pop icon Madonna is a vividly sexual rock star whose recent foray into motherhood has made big press, yet her name denotes the purest of pure. Perhaps the reality of the first Madonna, with her child on her lap, lies somewhere between the blue virgin and the rock star, between the tangible and the ideal. The young Virgin Mary would have the same labour pains and the same sleepless nights as any mother.

We can put the Madonna on a pedestal and think of her as a goddess or saint, but her humanity is what is most remarkable. She would have only been a child in modern day terms, maybe 13 or 14 years old.  Her world would have been thrown upside down. She did not get married until after the baby was born. Having a strong faith is one thing if you are a cloistered nun, but quite another if you are a pregnant teenager who is engaged to someone who is not the father of the baby.  These are real issues that somehow get white washed when we see the image of Mary on Christmas cards.