01.01.2008 - Mary, Mother of God
First Reading: Numbers 6,22-27 Psalm 67 Second Reading: Galatians 4,4-7
Gospel Reading: Luke 2,16-21
Today is full of messages! We exchange good wishes, or rather, blessings for
the new year, which we hope will be a tranquil and happy time for all of us.
Today is celebrated as Peace Day: whoever gives a speech today, be it head of
state or head of Church, they cannot ignore this topic and they will try to
give answers and advice to the entire world to satisfy everyone's wish to distance
any occasion or cause for conflict which continues to create suffering in families,
nations, peoples and continents.
The Church liturgy focuses on a particular solemnity, the consequence and completion
of the mystery we have been celebrating in this period. The Son of God became
man and lived amongst us. This obviously puts a Mother in the picture. She does
not save us, but she lays the saviour before us. God used and uses her to give
us Jesus! But she is not working in a shop and taking something from the shelf
to show us, she is a Mother! God asked her if she were willing and placed in
her the new life which became the Life and the Way and the Truth for us all.
She is the Mother of the Life, the Way and the Truth; why not simply the Mother
of God? He who was born of her is called the Son of the Highest, and he uses
that same "I Am" that is God's name; that is why she is justly called
the Mother of God! This title is given to her in the service of the true and
full knowledge of her Son!
Mary lives her maternity in silence. The gospel gives us this image. Her silence
is a joyful listening to that Word that she holds in her arms, the Word that
is fulfilled in her at the visit of the angel and that filled her life, changing
her and making her so special for the entire world. She kept all these things
and meditated on them in her heart: Mary's silence is rich and full and a mystery.
Everything she heard and saw had reference to her Son, who she knew to be the
Son of God! Everything was for her an occasion for contemplation and prayer!
We were also present when Mary prayed; not because she was thinking of us -
her mind was busy with her Son who needed her hands, her eyes and her ears -
but because her maternity was to have such an influence on our lives. We have
joy in her maternity, we are enriched and protected by it. Our solitude is consoled
by her, by her caring as was Jesus' solitude! All our uncertainties are transformed
into serenity by her gentleness as was Joseph's! All our questioning flees before
her steady look as did that of the shepherds.
Her lips pronounced the name, Jesus, as the angel had told her and surely no-one
tired of hearing her say his name, not the shepherds or Joseph, nor even the
angels who watched over the Child for heaven had descended upon earth!
We begin the new year listening to the name of the child spoken by Mary and
each time we can try to accompany her voice with ours. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
It is a good way to start this new part of our lives, invoking, praising, loving,
adoring, and listening to the name of Jesus! It is a name which does not leave
us as we were before we heard it, for it contains the strength of God, the strength
of God's love!