MOTHER OF GOD- NEW YEAR.

A few weeks ago, when Pope Francis was selected as “Person of the Year,” a young woman of feminist leanings joked, “We should have a WOMAN as head of the church ABOVE the Pope,”.  Another woman who heard her immediately tossed back, “We have one- Mary.  Mary, Mother of God, is above the Pope in the Church!”   She is not God, but above any human being as the message of the angel indicated “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb too. She herself proclaimed: All generations will call me blessed.

Today we celebrate the New year, but as Catholics today we think and celebrate Mary as the Mother of God.  Mary’s Motherhood is the heart and reason for all our attention to and claims on Mary through the centuries.

Jesus once asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15).  It is a question that never goes away, and every believer faces it again and again.  We can be quite clear in our mind about the Church’s answer to the question, but every believer has to experience the force of the question addressed to him or herself.  “Who do you say I am?”  In a sense it cannot be fully answered with words but only with one’s life.  It could have the right formulation but it has little significance if my life contradicts it or ignores it. 

Through the centuries every possible answer has been given.  Followers of Nestorius, the 5th-century archbishop of Constantinople said that Christ was two persons – the man Jesus and the divine Son of God.  This view was rejected at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), which insisted that Jesus was one person with two natures, divine and human.  The most emphatic way they could say this was to affirm that Mary was not just the mother of the man Jesus, but that she was the mother of God.  This was to say that Christ was one person, not two.  If there were two persons in Jesus, Mary could not be the mother of Son of God. She could only be the mother of human Jesus, not of the Christ. Note that it is more a statement about Christ than about Mary – or rather, equally so.

In today's Second Reading, St Paul reminds us that through God's grace we have all become brothers and sisters of Christ and, therefore, children of God.

This is what happened at baptism. At that moment we were born again, supernaturally; God infused his divine DNA into our souls. The spiritual life consists of the gradual spread and development of that DNA, until each one of us becomes a mature, wise, and fruitful follower of Jesus Christ.

Today's Solemnity reminds us that if we have become Christ's spiritual brothers and sisters, we have also become spiritual children of Mary. She was his mother in the flesh, and she is our mother in grace. Representing all disciples of Jesus in John the apostle Jesus said: this is your mother.

In today's Gospel she teaches us one of the most important virtues of all: wisdom. St Luke tells us how Mary responded to the wonderful things that God was doing in and around her: "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."

God did not tell Mary His entire plan. She had to walk in the dim light of faith, one step at a time, trusting in God, witnessing his action, and seconding it whenever she could. This capacity and habit of reflecting in our heart of God's action in our lives is both a sign and a source of wisdom. And we can never become mature, courageous, and joyful  followers of Christ unless we develop it.

Our culture has a custom of making new year resolutions. Why not make the resolution to spend this year learning from our spiritual mother how to let God put wisdom into our lives, by "keeping all these things and reflecting on them in our hearts" through praying Rosary every day. Rosary is a very powerful weapon to fight Satanic influences in our families if prayed together as a family.

As we make new priorities for life, let’s make sure that Jesus and Mary find a place in our plans and decision makings. When  wrestling with all the uncertainties of life, struggles, challenges that seem to keep coming our way, remember we can fight them all with the help of Mary and her Son.

In closing let me draw our attention to one of the important areas we should be paying attention to this new year. It is about redeeming our time.

What portion of our time does God have in my everyday life ? How much television are we watching? How much time to sports are we devoting? What are we doing with our time? If we don’t find time for God, he will not find time for us to. Let’s not always be pleasure seekers but seekers of Holiness, which gives us joy and peace.  Let’s start every day of our New year on our knees, one who kneels before God can stand up to anything in life. Wish you all a happy new year.