Today on the first day of the calendar year, we celebrate the
Solemnity of the Mother of God. This solemn feast is the Octave Day of
Christmas. The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, was sent to sanctify
the womb of the Virgin Mary and to cause her to conceive the eternal Son of the
Father in a humanity drawn from her own. Therefore, Mary is rightly called the
Mother of God since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, Jesus
Christ, who is God himself.
When we think of Mary as the Mother of God, we
might tend to think of her as bearing and raising Jesus when he was an infant
and toddler and young boy but having not much else of an influence on him as he
matured. Saint Luke's Gospel contradicts such an idea. Jesus went down to
Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them. Mary kept all these things
in her heart, and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and
man. We all cherish the wise things and sayings that our own mothers taught us.
Well, so it seems did Jesus. In Chapter 1 of Luke, Mary's magnificent song of
praise to God called the Magnificat appears. In it, Mary praises God
for her impending giving birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Mary
rhapsodizes that her soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and her spirit
rejoices in God her Savior, just as in Luke 10 her Son Jesus rejoices in the
Holy Spirit and gives praise to his Father. This is the Magnificat, the hymn of
praise to the heavenly Father, by her Son. Mary is elated that God
lifts up the lowly—the lowly and humble of the land such as herself and casts
down the great and mighty from their self-exalting thrones. Just so
is Jesus rejoicing in the Spirit that the mysteries are hidden from the wise
and learned but are revealed to the childlike. We can coin a phrase and say,
“Like Mother, like Son.” Mary's canticle of praise epitomizes the entire Gospel
that her Son will teach as he turns all worldly conceptions on their heads: the
conceptions of rich over the poor, of the sophisticates over the simple, the
powerful over the weak, the self-righteous over sinners. These worldly
conceptions are all turned upside down in the proclamation of the Good News by
Jesus. Jesus Christ our God and Savior is indeed the son of Mary, who
is also our mother.
Mary is not only the Mother of Jesus, God and
Savior, but is also the Mother of all who will be saved through him. On
Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, Mother Mary is surrounded by the Apostle
shepherds who in the power of the Holy Spirit will bring the saving Gospel to
all people. We see a foreshadowing of this in the stable scene today
where Mother Mary and Joseph and Jesus are surrounded by the shepherds of
Bethlehem who will go forth from them on the birthday of Jesus with
the announcement of the new born Savior, Christ the
Lord. Mary and Joseph and Jesus remain with us. In heaven
they are always praying to incorporate us more and more into the Holy
Family. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the
hour of our death.
Yes, Mary, Mother of God, is our mother and, mirabile
dictu, we too are “mother of God.” Jesus tells us explicitly,
“Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother.” This
means that the more our lives conform to those of Jesus and Mary by the power
of the Holy Spirit, the more each of us helps to give birth and nourish the
body of Christ that is the Church for the salvation of all people. We are
called by God in Jesus and Mary to surrender to God's will as did each of them:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord. “Be it done unto me according to your word,”
Mary says to the Father through the Angel of the Annunciation. Jesus
prays like his Mother during his agony in the Garden saying, “Father, if you
are willing, take this cup from me; still, not my will but yours be
done.” Like Mother, like Son.
Mary gave her own body and blood to Jesus, as he
was formed in her womb. In Holy Communion Jesus gives us his own
glorified body and blood which he received from Mary. The Word and
Eucharist together are the seed of the Holy Spirit in the womb of our hearts.
Proclaimed and given to us, we receive both with the “Amen” spoken in faith,
hope and love. May we all together give birth to Christ and bear
Christ into our world. It would be the greatest blessing of this new
year.
Madonna of the Carnation by Bernardino Luini. Excerpts
from this morning’s homily by Father Luke.
