Mary and the Burning Bush

From The Burning Bush Triptych by Nicholas Froment

The prophet in the wilderness

The fire inside it was aflame

But never consumed or injured it.

The same with the Theotokos Mary

Carried the fire of Divinity

Nine months in her holy body.



Again it was said of Christ that He is a “consuming fire” (Hebrews
12:29). The fire burning inside the bush is a symbol of Christ and the
bush itself symbolizes the Virgin.

I have been pondering the symbolism of Mary, carrying the baby Jesus in her womb for nine months being like the burning bush that Moses saw.

We learn over and over again from the Old Testament that no person can see the face of God and live. As God told Moses in exodus 33:30, But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" To be fully in his presence is to be extinguished. It is like an ice cube before the presence of a roaring fire.

So how could Mary actually hold within herself the God/man Jesus without being consumed? God had prepared a place for Jesus in granting Mary the immaculate conception. Mary, through the redeeming grace of Jesus, was conceived without original sin and being full of grace continued to live a live free from sin. The purifying fire of God’s presence had nothing to burn away in Mary. She was a vessel prepared beforehand to receive the gift of God’s son. So like the burning burn she is aflame with God’s presence but not consumed.

May she be our example and we too become fire.