January 1, 2017
THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
Honor Thy Mother
Nm 6:22-27; Gal 4:47; Lk 2:16-21
First Reading: This passage
foreshadows the blessing God will
bestow upon Mary centuries later. It
is a Semitic blessing invoking the
name of God three times, offering
not only divine favor upon the
person being blessed but also an
assurance of God's protection.
Second Reading: Paul offers one
of the most beautiful images in all of
Scripture: the fullness of time. When
Mary gives birth to the Word, which
once spoke all that is into existence,
a moment of cosmic perfection
occurs and the God of history comes
out of eternity and into measured
time, embodying the fullness of
time.
Gospel Reading: Mary was the
first contemplative in Christian
history, keeping all these things in
her heart. This illustrates the mysti‑
cal reality that this young woman is
now specially graced to know God in
a profound way.
Homily
There are so many titles for the
Blessed Virgin Mary. We know her as
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Fatima. In
Vietnam, she is Our Lady of La Vang.
In Poland, she is Our Lady of
Czestochowa. In Ireland, they call
her Our Lady of Knock. In her birth‑
place, she is Our Lady of Palestine.
She is the Queen of Heaven, the
Queen of Angels and the Queen of
Peace. She is Our Lady of Sorrows,
Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our
Lady of Victory.
Today, we celebrate another one of
her titles, Mary, the Mother of God
---a difficult title to say the least. It
was a stumbling block in the early
Church as many struggled to
understand the mystery of God. How
could a 13-year-old girl actually be
the mother of God? It was confusing
then, and it remains confusing even
today. So how did they — how do
we — arrive at this mystery? It must
be about Jesus. Mary is because of
Jesus. Her holiness, her example,
her "yes" has significance because of
what she said "yes" to. The title,
Mary, the Mother of God, has less to
do with her and more with her baby.
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church explains, called in the
Gospels the Mother of Jesus, Mary is
acclaimed by Elizabeth at the
prompting of the Spirit, as the
Mother of My Lord. In fact, the One
whom she conceived by the Holy
Spirit, who really became her son in
the flesh, is also the Father's eternal
son, the second person of the Most
Holy Trinity, God himself. Hence, the
Church believes that Mary is truly the
Mother of God. In other words, if
Jesus is 100 percent human, then
Mary is the mother of a real person,
flesh and bone, Jesus, who lived
2,000 years ago in Palestine. And if
he is 100 percent God, she gave
birth to God, and as such, she is the
Mother of God because Jesus is God.
Mary being the Mother of God is
necessary so that we might
understand who he is. We don't
worship Mary. We are amazed with
Mary, inspired by Mary, given hope
by what Mary did and what God did
through her. Mary is indispensable to
the story of salvation because she
participated quite literally in God
walking among us. Mary, conceived
without sin and living her entire
life without sin, is the way you and I
were before we fell to sin. This is
why she is also called the New Eve
and Jesus the New Adam.
In the Incarnation, the Word speaks
again what he spoke in the
beginning, and it is good. Through
Mary, God reconfigures humanity.
Thus Mary is a key ingredient in the
salvific plan of God. She is the way
we would have been had we not
sinned that day back in the Garden.
She is the way that you and I will
hopefully be one day, when we are
in heaven and Jesus returns to raise
our mortal bodies into immortal
glory. She did this by carrying a real
baby for nine months and bringing
him into our midst at Christmas.
Again from the Catechism and St.
Irenaeus of Lyons, we hear, being
obedient, Mary became the cause
of salvation for herself and the
human race. Hence, the
Church Fathers explain, the knot of
Eve's disobedience
was untied by Mary's obedience
making Mary Our Lady, the Mother
of the Living. In this way, Mary is
totally sacramental. She brings to
this world something at a specific
time and place, a baby named
Yeshua in a town called Bethlehem.
But more importantly she carries the
infinite Mercy of God to humanity.
She brings forth the Answer, the
Word that explains what all of this
means. Because of that, we call her
Mary, Mother of God.
