In this beautiful Christmas special, we’re learning from the most famous of all mothers: Mary, the Mother of God. My guest Christine Valters Paintner is the author of “Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal”. Christine has a PhD in Christian Spirituality, is an abbess and the author of over twenty books on spirituality. Christine tells us about her mother Susan, a United Nations employee, who struggled with rheumatoid arthritis but turned her suffering into a gift for others as she earned an MA in social studies to became an advocate for people with disabilities. Susan teaches us to empower other people, to not be victims but turn challenges into gifts for others, and to embrace the power that comes with older age. In the second part of the episode, we talked about Holy Mary and her lessons: to show up in the world, to accept the calling to create, to embrace the power of the sacred feminine (such as the intuition, creativity, dreams, gestation), and to be a loving and present witness both in birth and death, positive and negative. Susan also talked about one of the most important lessons for most women: that we’re not responsible for everything, and that sometimes, we also need to be taken care of. Finally, she talked about healing our ancestors by healing ourselves. And I invite you to think about Mary and her presence, and what she represents to you, during these holidays. I wish you, dear listeners, blessed holidays and a happy 2024!  To learn more about Christine, please visit the Abbey of the Arts website. To subscribe to Ana's new "Mama Loves…” newsletter, please go here.  To contact Ana, to be a guest, or suggest a guest, please send your mail to: info@thankyoumama.net For more about “Thank You, Mama", please visit: http://www.thankyoumama.net To connect with Ana on social media:  https://www.instagram.com/anatajder/  https://www.facebook.com/ana.tajder  https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatajder/  https://twitter.com/tajder