MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, JANUARY 1, 2019

Numbers 6:22-27, Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

A Catholic pastor in a small Alabama city of mostly Southern Baptist Christians decided to put up a Christmas crib in the town square. The priest with some of his prominent parishioners approached some rich people and businesses for donation. When they went to see the rich editor of the local newspaper the priest explained the project: “Many people, especially the children will be inspired to see Jesus, Mary and Joseph and animals right here in the center of the town.” The editor agreed to help on condition that Mary must be left out. Otherwise, it would be promoting your Catholic denomination. The priest said: “Tell you what. Tell me how you can show a birth without a mother, and I will agree to leave Mary out.” The editor had no answer and the Mother was with her Child in the town square.

Today’s Feast of Mary, the Mother of God is a very appropriate way to begin a new year. Based on the references in the New Testament and on the traditional belief of the early Church, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), because “according to the flesh” she gave birth to Jesus, Who was truly God as well as truly man from the first moment of His conception by Mary. The Council defined Mary as the Mother of God both to honor her and to safeguard the dogma that Jesus Christ is not just truly God but also truly man.

The Church puts the feast of this solemnity on the first day of the New Year to emphasize the importance of Mary’s role in the life of Christ and of the Church. We commemorate the various saints on the different days of the year, but Mary is the most prominent of them all.  She has a special role and mission given to her by God. As Mother of our Redeemer and of the redeemed, she reigns as the Queen at the side of Christ the King. She is a powerful intercessor for all of our needs here on earth. In celebrating her special feast day, we acknowledge this great gift for the Church and world; we call on her to be actively involved in our daily life; we imitate her virtuous life as a great inspiration; and we cooperate with all the graces we get through her.

Today’s Gospel describes how the shepherds spread to all their neighbors the Good News surrounding the birth of Jesus which the angel had revealed to them.

We know that the Virgin Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and, consequently, the Mother of God. But she is also the Mother of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. Because of this, the mission of Mary is totally inseparable from the mission of the Church. And it should be clearly stated here that the role of Mary, as Mother of all humanity, in no way eclipses or diminishes Christ. On the contrary, her role can only help to clarify Christ’s role. This is one of the reasons that God decided to share his Mother with us.

All mothers want their children to inherit or acquire their good qualities. Our Heavenly Mother is no exception.  With Joseph, she succeeded in training the Child Jesus, so that He grew in holiness and in “favor before God and man.” Hence, our best way of celebrating this feast and honoring our Heavenly Mother would be to promise her that we will practice her virtues of Faith, obedience, purity and humble service. In this way, we will be trying to become the saintly sons and daughters of our heavenly Mother, the holy Mother of God.

We can honor Mary by cultivating an interior life like hers. Mary meditated on the events of her life in relation to God’s plan of salvation. We are participants in God’s plan of salvation, too. We are God’s instruments and fellow workers in God’s kingdom. Everything that happens to us has a good meaning and it is up to us to try, with God’s help, to discover and appreciate it. Mary’s words at the wedding feast of Cana reveal her basic orientation, which we can apply to ourselves: “Do whatever He tells you.”

Since we celebrate the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, on New Year’s Day, I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year.  I pray that the Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary may enrich your lives during the New Year with an abundance of God’s blessings.

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY [C] 

(1Sm 1:20-22, 24-28; 1Jn 3:1-2, 21-24; Lk 2:41-52)

Today’s feast reminds us that Jesus chose to live in an ordinary human family in order to reveal God’s plan to make all people live as one “holy family” in His Church. In today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 128), the psalmist reminds us that happy homes are the fruit of our faithfulness to the Lord.

 Today’s Gospel describes the fifth joyful mystery in the Holy Rosary. Only St Luke (2:41-50) reports the event of the child Jesus’ disappearing and then being found in the Temple. Jewish boys were made “sons of the Law” by presenting themselves in the Temple of Jerusalem when they become twelve years old.

After telling us how the boy Jesus disappeared on the journey home and was only found by his frantic parents three days later in the Temple, today’s Gospel explains how the Holy Family of Nazareth lived according to the will of God. They themselves obeyed all the Jewish laws and regulations and brought Jesus up in the same way, so that he grew in wisdom as well as in the favor of God and men. Jesus’ obedience to his earthly parents flows directly from His obedience to the will of his Heavenly Father.

 Jesus was telling them that his earthly life involved an obedience to more than earthly parents. They did not then understand the full implications of what divine Sonship would entail, namely, that in terms of his mission, His relationship to God would necessarily take precedence over his relationship to them. One of a parent’s greatest sorrows afflicted Mary: not to understand her own child; this was one of the swords spoken of by Simeon (Luke 2:35). Jesus by his bewildered counter-question teaches us that over and above any human authority, even that of our parents, there is the primary duty to do the will of God. At this stage in Jesus life, “doing the will of his Heavenly Father” entailed obedience to Mary and Joseph, and Jesus willingly complied: “He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”

By the Sacrament of marriage, Jesus sanctifies not only the spouses but also the entire family. The husband and wife attain holiness when they discharge their duties faithfully, trusting in God, and drawing on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through personal and family prayer, meditative reading of the Bible, and devout participation in Holy Mass.  Families become holy when Christ Jesus is present in them. Jesus becomes truly present in the parish Church through the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.  

This is the quality Pope St. Paul VI found most inspiring in the Holy Family. They lived a hidden life, a quiet life, a life with lots of room for thinking. With TV, radio and the Internet clogging our minds and senses, we leave our families little room for thought or prayer. We need to do what it takes to bring silence home — move the TV so that it’s not the centerpiece of our household; turn it off when no one’s watching. This is guaranteed to reduce family stress levels.

We need to make our home a place of prayer. Our day needn’t be dominated by devotions, but we should have some regular, routine family prayers, just as the Holy Family did. They prayed and studied the Scriptures, but still managed to get their work done. 

The Little Flower used to ask an innocent question of her first grader classmates: “Have you ever seen a Saint praying?”  She would add: “If you haven’t, come to my house in the evening.  You will see my dad on his knees in his room with outstretched arms, praying for us, his children, every day.”  She states in one of her letters from the convent: “I have never seen or heard or experienced anything displeasing to Jesus in my family.”  St. Teresa of Avila was admitted against her will, by her father, to a boarding house conducted by nuns in the final year of her high school studies, as soon as he detected bad books and yellow magazines hidden in her box. They were supplied by her spoiled friend and classmate, Beatrice.   St. Teresa later wrote as the Mother Superior: “But for that daring and timely action of my father, I would have ended up in the streets, as a notorious woman.” The feast of the Holy Family challenges Christian fathers to be role models to their children.

Let us pray for the grace of caring for one another in our own families, for each member of the parish family, and for all families of the universal Church. May God bless all our families in the New Year.

Advent IV [C] Mi 5:1-4a; Heb 10:5-10;   Lk 1:39-45

Composer and performer Bradley James has set Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s teachings and prayers to music in the internationally acclaimed recording, Gift of Love. Bradley remembers her teaching: “Mother said we don’t have to go to Calcutta to help the poor; rather, we must help them right in front of us.” He applied this lesson when he encountered a homeless beggar on the streets of San Francisco.  Bradley placed some money in his metal cup, then reached out and shook the man’s hand.  The recipient gave him a big smile, and the two exchanged names and small talk. Bradley recalls: “Then he pulled me a little closer and said, ‘Thanks for the money, but what I really needed was a handshake”.  Indeed, what was remarkable in this incident was not the coin, but the gift of human dignity and the love of Christ that Bradley James brought to the beggar through the handshake and his fraternal presence.  In effect, Bradley replicated in his life and experience the joyful mystery of the Lord’s Visitation (Lk 1:39-45) described in today’s Gospel.

The readings suggest that we should not celebrate Christmas as just an occasion for nice feelings.  Instead, commemorating Jesus’ birth should inspire us to carry out God’s word as Mary and Jesus did, in perfect obedience to His will, in cheerful kindness and unselfish generosity, and thus to become true disciples.

We can make a real difference in the lives of others by carrying Jesus to them.   However, we cannot give what we do not possess.   Christmas is the ideal time for us to be filled with the spirit of Christ, allowing his rebirth within us.  Thus, he enables us to share his love with all whom we encounter by offering them humble and committed service, unconditional forgiveness and compassionate caring.  Sharing Jesus with others is the best Christmas gift we can give. 

The Visitation of Mary reminds us that, through his holy ministry, Christ continues to be present among his people.  The same Christ “dwells among us” in the Bible, in the Sacraments, and in the praying community.  The hill country of Judea is right here in our sanctuary.  The same Jesus who dwelt in Mary’s womb and who caused John to leap in Elizabeth’s womb now dwells among us in our liturgy and in the Holy Eucharist.  Jesus has come — he lives with us and in us through the Holy Spirit.  

As we continue with this Mass, let’s thank God for creating us and giving each one of us a unique calling, a mission to share him with others. And let’s promise our Lord that this week, as Christmas arrives, we will live our lives with a renewed awareness of our calling to share Jesus to others as Mary did with Elizabeth.

Advent III-C: Zep 3:14-18a; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18

Patricia Greenlee tells a story about her son who is a West Virginia state trooper. Once he stopped a woman for going 15 miles an hour over the speed limit. After he handed her a ticket, she asked him, “Don’t you give out warnings?” “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “They’re all up and down the road. They say, ‘Speed Limit 55.’” People have a tendency to disregard the warning signs. Sometimes that has dire consequences. Today’s Gospel presents John the Baptist warning the Jews with prophetic courage of their need for repentance and conversion.

John preaches fervently, urging his listeners to make preparations for the coming of the Messiah. John advises people, not to be dreamers or planners only, but doers moved by sincerity and commitment.  Even though John’s preaching is characterized by scathing criticism, his call for reform is still described by Luke as "the Good News," because the arrival of the Messiah will initiate a new reign of forgiveness, healing and salvation.  The repentance which John preaches calls for a change in behavior and not just regret for the past. According to Scott Hahn “Repentance” translates a Greek word, metanoia (literally, “change of mind”). It means a radical life-change involving a two-fold “turning” - away from sin (see Ezekiel 3:19; 18:30) and toward God for His mercy (see Sirach 17:20-21; Hosea 6:1). It requires “good fruits as evidence of our repentance” (see Luke 3:8). That’s why John tells the crowds, soldiers and tax collector, and us as well, that we must prove our Faith through works of charity, honesty and social justice.  John demands that we share our goods with one another, emphasizing the principle of social justice that God will never absolve the man who is content to have too much while others have too little.  John also insists that a man should not leave his job to work out his own salvation.  Instead, he should do his job as it should be done.  He calls people to fidelity in the very circumstances of their lives.  Let the tax-collector be a good tax-collector and let the soldier be a good soldier.  In other words, it is a man's duty to serve God where God has set him.  “Bloom where you are planted,” St. Francis De Sales used to say.  We are expected to become transformational agents where we are.  And if the work environment is such that we are unable to deal honestly and fairly with other people, we should probably find a new job.

As we continue with this Mass, let's take an x-ray of our hearts, to see the state of our moral life. And when our Lord comes to heal and strengthen us in Holy Communion, let's renew our commitment to make his friendship, with all its moral consequences, the highest priority of our lives.