(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)
In the second reading we heard St. Paul telling his
converts in Galatia:
As proof that you are
children, God sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba,
Father!”
There Paul was urging his converts to recognize the wonderful
privilege bestowed upon them by their faith in Jesus, a faith which enabled
them to address God as ‘Abba, Father’ in all truth. That mind-blowing privilege was theirs
because the Spirit left by Jesus to His Church, to make up for His own bodily Ascension
into heaven, was – and is -- the Spirit of God’s own Son, with power and
mission to form all earthly disciples of Jesus into an authentic spiritual
likeness of their Lord and Saviour, able to express their love and trust
towards God, as did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani, with the word 'Father' (‘Abba’
being Aramaic for ‘Father’).
The Spirit bestowed upon Mary, however, worked so
wondrously in her, that she was led to respond to God the Father with a love and
trust that enabled her to bring forth not just passing words of praise from her
lips, but the Divine Word Himself -- the Father’s co-eternal Son -- become Man from
her womb! So intense, so complete and absolutely
unreserved, was the response of Mary to God’s word delivered to her by the
angel Gabriel, that Jesus always openly praised her for that aspect of her
character above all else:
And it happened that, as (Jesus)
spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to
Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed
You!" But He said, "More than
that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
(Luke 11:27-28)
"Who is My mother, or
My brothers?" And He looked around
at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My
brothers! For whoever does the will of God
is My brother and My sister and mother." (Mark 3:33-35)
We can also compare and contrast Mary with Moses who, as
you heard in the first reading, brought great blessings down on Israel. There, we were told how God would bless the
Chosen People of the Old Testament through the use of certain words of priestly
blessing that He gave to Moses for Aaron, his sons, and their descendants:
Tell Aaron and his sons: ‘This
is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and
keep you! The LORD let His face shine
upon you, and be gracious to you! The
LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”
So shall they invoke My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.’
Those are truly beautiful words used to confer a treasured
blessing. But consider how God the
Father blesses us through Mary and her Son.
For, she does not simply hand down, pass on, special words, she clothes
-- with her own flesh and blood-- the One Eternal Word of God given her,
and gives Him birth for the ultimate blessing and eternal good of all mankind. No longer simply a prayer for the blessing of
Israel, but God's gracious presence in Mother Church for the salvation of the whole
world!
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:3-8)
Holy Mary, you are indeed blessed above all women by God
the Father, for through you there came to both Jews and Gentiles the One God
and Saviour, through Whom and in Whom all the blessings of heaven itself are promised
to those who believe in His ‘Good Tidings of great joy’!
Again, in our Gospel reading we learned that those who
searched for the Child found:
Mary
and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger.
Jesus told His disciples, through St. John at the foot of
the Crosson Calvary, to take Mary to their hearts as their own Mother, meaning that,
in their endeavours to become His true disciples, they would ultimately find that
fulfilment only through her maternal prayers. Mary is no mere addition, certainly no
complication, for Catholic spirituality; but she is most certainly a challenge
for many modern – formerly Catholic -- women whose main aim now seems to be
proudly challenging men in human diversity, rather than fulfilling themselves --
and humanity itself -- through their share in God-given complementarity!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we believe that Mary
leads each and every one of us to Jesus when we recall that she is not simply
the model of the Church, but was the Church itself in its origins, and that only in Mother Church can each and
every one of us find Jesus truly and love Him fully.
Finally, we also need to understand that Mary, who is, for
us, a temple of the Holy Spirit and a channel of blessing from the Father, is
also our model and inspiration in our relationship with Jesus, in so far as the
Scriptures tell us that she, our Mother, who was and is always most sublimely
one with Jesus,
Mary kept all these things
(that she had experienced and heard concerning Jesus) reflecting on them
in her heart.
There is to be found the supreme example and the ultimate
guidance for anyone hoping and longing
to find God -- our only true and sublimely perfect Father -- in and through
Jesus: imitate Mary by treasuring the Good News of Jesus handed down to us by
Mother Church who, with her teaching of the Scriptures, illuminates our minds
to understand and appreciate the promised Christ of God; and, through the
economy of her sacraments, enables us to fittingly welcome and worship His very
presence in our midst, and receive Him with whole-hearted and personal love into
our own individual minds, hearts, and lives.
As children of Mary, therefore, hear the Word of God
proclaimed in Mother Church, with reverence and joy; treasure the mysterious
presence of His grace in your heart; and, above all, dear People of God, seek to
respond – by the Spirit – to God, the Giver of all good gifts, with that
wholehearted trust and gratitude to which Mary herself gave perfect expression
when she said:
Behold, I am the handmaid
of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)
