Mary, the Mother of God
(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)
In today’s second reading we heard St. Paul telling his
converts in Galatia:
As proof that you are sons, God
sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Those words of St. Paul invite us today to consider how
wonderfully the Spirit dwelt in the heart of Mary! They show us, indeed, the magnitude of her
blessing when we consider that the Spirit abided in and filled her whole being
to such an extent that, whereas we are enabled by the Spirit, Paul tells us, to
express our aspiration to and love for God with the human words 'Abba, Father';
Mary, on the other hand, responding to God’s call with love of such total
commitment and a trust of such selfless abandon, was enabled to conceive in her
womb and ultimately to ‘express’ God’s Divine Word Himself – allowing the Father’s
co-eternal Son to find human ‘expression’ as Son of Man! That was the faith for which Jesus openly
praised her:
While He was speaking, a woman
from the crowd called out and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that carried You
and the breasts at which You nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and
observe it.” (Luke 11:27-28)
Indeed, it was that faith and commitment which Jesus
appreciated in and associated with Mary above all else:
"Who is My mother, or My
brothers?" And (Jesus) looked
around in a circle 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)
And, although in this respect the following teaching from one
of the Cappadocian Fathers in the early Church is both beautiful and uplifting:
Whenever you receive
Christ’s word within you, and let it live in your heart, and build it up with
your thoughts as in the womb, then you can be called Christ’s mother.
Perhaps the teaching of St. Augustine is more direct and inspirational:
Whoever believes with
all his heart and is ‘justified by faith’ (Romans 5:11), he has conceived
Christ in the womb. And whenever ‘with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ (Romans 10:10) that man has given
birth to Christ. Be you therefore
overflowing with fertility in the spirit, and at the same time unchanging in
the soul’s virginity.
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 the use of Aaron the priest, his sons, and
their descendants:
Speak to Aaron and his sons and
tell them: “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.” (Numbers
6:23-27)
Those are truly beautiful words used to confer a treasured
blessing. But consider how God the
Father blesses us, and all who share with us in the New Testament covenant,
through Mary and her Son. For, Mary does
not simply hand down, pass on, God-given words for occasional, though repeated,
blessing in Israel; she receives and clothes with her own flesh and blood the One Eternal Word of God, and giving
Him birth offers mankind its supreme blessing for all time and for eternity. No longer simply a prayer invoking blessing for
Israel, but God's gracious and unfailing 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 in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, to be holy and without blemish before Him. In love, He destined us for adoption to
Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favour of His will, for the
praise of the glory of His grace that He granted us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption by His blood, the
forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His grace that He
lavished upon us. (Eph. 1:3-8)
Holy Mary, you are indeed blessed above all women by God
the Father, for you have given us the One through Whom and in Whom all the
blessings of heaven itself are ours!
In our Gospel reading we learned that those who searched
for the Child found:
Mary and Joseph, and
the Infant lying in the manger.
Matthew, however, in his Gospel (2:11), makes no mention of
Joseph when the Magi come into the presence of the new-born King of the Jews:
On entering the house they saw
the Child with Mary His mother. They prostrated themselves and did Him homage.
Then they opened their treasures and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh.
Perhaps Luke was intent, as was his wont, to give us the
historical picture, whereas Matthew gives us his more theological understanding
of the scene. Whatever the reason,
Matthew’s version is exact for all of us today: in our search for Jesus, we
find Him with Mary. For, when Jesus was
on the point of dying on the Cross of Calvary, He addressed all His future
disciples in the person of John, the one apostle standing there at the foot of the
Cross, and told him to take Mary to his heart as his own Mother:
‘Woman, behold your
son!’ Then, to the disciple, ‘Behold
your mother’
And so, Mary is no mere optional extra, and -- most certainly
-- no unwarranted or unwanted complication, for Catholic spirituality. For we recognize and appreciate that Mary
leads each and every one of us to Jesus when we also recall that she is not
simply the model for the Church, but the Church itself in its origins, and 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, as
it were, Mother Church’s conductor for the Holy Spirit’s lightning and a
channel of countless blessings, is also our model and inspiration in our personal
relationships with Jesus, in so far as the Scriptures tell us that she, our
Mother, was always sublimely one with Jesus:
Keeping 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 longing and hoping to find God our most loving Father in
and through Jesus. Imitate Mary by
treasuring the Good News of Jesus handed down to us by Mother Church who, through
her presentation and preaching 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 presence in
our midst by receiving Him with whole-hearted personal love and commitment,
allowing Him to rule our lives as disciples on earth and beseeching Him to
fulfil our aspirations as children for heaven.
Therefore, hear the Word of God proclaimed in Mother Church
with reverence and joy; treasure the goodness of His grace in your mind and
with your heart; and, above all, seek to respond – by the Spirit – to the
Father, 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)
Let us close our considerations with heartfelt words of
gratitude and praise for Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, and His most
loving gift to us:
You are the glory of (heavenly)
Jerusalem, the surpassing joy (and) splendid boast of (of all reborn in
Christ). With your own hand you have
done all this; you have done good and God is pleased with what you have
wrought. May you be blessed by the Lord
Almighty forever and ever! And all the
people answered, “Amen!” (Judith 15:9-10)
So be it, today: Amen, amen! Deo Gratias!!