In the fullness of time ...
"God sent his Son, born of a woman
... to redeem those who were under the law."
So at the beginning of the history of
salvation is God's will to rescue the man, but also at the beginning of the
story is a woman, the Mother, Mary. The beginning of the New Year is an
opportunity to prepare plans and projects, to make decisions.
However, today's ceremony directs our
attention toward motherhood, because at the beginning of every life is always
the Mother. Therefore, certainly not without reason, the Church did establish
on January 1 the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint John
Paul II – Pope not without reason entrusted the new third millennium of
Christianity to Mary, the Mother of the God-Man, and also the Queen of Peace.
On December 8th, 2000 he prayed at the
Piazza di Spagna in Rome: "Mary Immaculate, we raise our eyes to you, and
please, help us in our fight against evil and present our contemporary world to
God. Keep us in your motherly care You Beautiful and Holy Virgin! Assist in the
ascent of the new millennium, clad in the humility that made you chosen in the
eyes of the Almighty. Let the fruit of the Jubilee Year will not be
destroyed." These years of the new millennium cannot remain just a memory.
Beginning of the New Year, may not be only an opportunity to enjoy our
celebrations during the New Year's Eve festivities with champagne. But this is
also undoubtedly an opportunity to start anew, under the care of That One, Whom
God himself chose to be at the beginning, that is the Mother. Let's use Her
intercession, because with Her motherly care, Her support and help at the
beginning of each New Year we can really start anew not only a year but the
whole of our life. We do not need to fear the Mother. She is the Mother of God,
so what can we expect from Her?
Well, that is the beginning, because the
first day of the New Year is dedicated to Her. I wish all of you to be accepted
with your life in Her maternal care. I pray for you and I ask you to pray for
her intercession on my behalf. Happy New Year - with Mary, THEOTOKOS - the
Mother of God.
alternative homily
Mary,
Mother of God
Is Mary the Mother of Jesus Christ? Yes. Is Mary the
Mother of God? To answer that question
we first have to answer the question "Who is Jesus Christ? Our purpose
today is not to prove that Jesus is God or that Jesus is man. Given the
numerous references in the Bible, as Christians, we take that for granted.
Jesus Christ is both God and man. Our purpose today is to look at Jesus Christ
in order to answer the question how can Mary be the Mother of God?
The Bible says that Jesus Christ, He who is God by
reason of His divine nature, became man by taking unto Himself human nature. That
is to say, God – a divine person – took unto Himself a human body with the same
structure and functions of the human body which each of us knows so well.
He took unto himself a human soul, a human mind,
human feelings and emotions, no different from those with which we are endowed
with at birth. And when He did this, He did not thereby cease to be God. God,
whose nature is entirely spiritual, into whose make-up nothing bodily enters,
whose will power is omnipotent (that is to say all powerful, Almighty), whose
mind is omniscient (that is to say all knowing) and whose life had no beginning
and no end.
Jesus Christ is both God and man – As God Jesus
Christ is infinite, omnipotent, omniscient and eternal. At the same time, Jesus
Christ – as man is also mortal (as a human being he must eventually die), Jesus
is limited in His physical powers, capable of fatigue and pain, subject to
growth in bodily stature and human knowledge. The same as every other man in
everything but sin.
This does not mean that His Divine nature became
human or that the infallible mind of God became fallible, or that the immortal
nature of God became subject to death. At the incarnation the divine was in no
way changed into the human. It does mean though that a Divine person really
possessed human nature with all of its limitations because a human being, Mary,
was His mother.
But because these two natures, Divine and Human are
possessed by the same person, Jesus Christ, then Mary who is Mother of His
human nature, is rightfully called the Mother of Jesus Christ, and since Jesus
Christ is God, she is rightfully called -
Mary, the Mother of God.
Many, however, who speak freely of Mary as mother of
Jesus, are hesitant to call her the Mother of God. They shouldn’t be. Otherwise
they do not have a full understanding of the meaning of the incarnation. There
is no good reason why a divine person, Jesus Christ, who is truly man, could
not be conceived and born according to this human nature.
This does not mean that His mother Mary, like some
goddess, would bring His divine nature into existence. It also does not mean
that as the mother of a divine person, she existed before him. Christ told us
that He existed before Abraham was born. As God, He is eternal; as man, He
began to live a human life when Mary conceived Him. Mary did not exist before
God.
Catholics get this information concerning Mary and
Jesus – not from the Church teaching us as though the Bible did not exist, but
rather from the Church teaching us the full significance of what the Bible says
about Jesus and His mother Mary. About their relationship and what significance
Mary has for us today.
Mary as the Mother of God has an important
relationship to you and me in the world today. She is our Mother and as our
Mother she continually intercedes for us and leads us to her Son Jesus Christ. Since
the early days of the Church Christians have expressed Mary’s relationship to
us by addressing her with the title “Our Mother”. This, of course, does not say
that she was our mother in the natural sense of the term, but rather it is a
real spiritual relationship.
Just as St. Paul in speaking to the Corinthians said
“In Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, I have begotten you.” Mary could just as
truthfully say to all of us “In Christ Jesus, through my consent to your
redemption, I have begotten you”. She was associated in our regeneration by
giving us Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ on Calvary said to Mary “Woman,
behold your son” and to St. John “Behold your Mother” Jesus was proclaiming
this truth.
Mary is our Mother. Christians have always
considered St. John as representing in person all those who are redeemed and
who look upon Mary as their “Mother”.
And so this scene at the cross is really the origin of our devotion to
Mary. Holy Mary, Mother of God, conceived without sin. Yes, conceived without
sin and sinless throughout her life. Full of Grace. God’s Grace.
If you wonder why this freedom of sin at the outset
of her life is so important and why Christians have always acclaimed her to
have been immaculate and unstained, the reason is that she was sinless in order
to be fit to become the mother of the Redeemer. Sinless, she was then worthy to
be associated with the Son of God in a most intimate relationship. In Mary
there was no shame of sin to reflect on her child. The flesh which the Holy One
took from her as His mother was the flesh of one who had never been – in any
sense – a sinner.
The absence of sin in Mary meant holiness – a
holiness in which she steadily grew. When the time came for the angel of God to
visit her, he would salute her as “full of Grace” and “blessed among women.” Never
had a messenger from God addressed a human being in such language. There had to
be a good reason. There are two important points which must be kept in mind in
finding that reason. The first is that – God does nothing by chance or on the
spur of the moment. The Eternal God simply does not act that way.
What God does in the world He has planned from the
beginning of time.
God did not just happen to send an angel to a small
Judean town looking for a nice Jewish girl whom He then selected to be the
Mother of the Messiah - after taking a
quick omniscient look over all the others and then making a quick decision –
there she is – she’s the one. No, the Virgin Mary, was in His mind from the
very beginning. When she came into existence it was to be as the Mother of God.
God only needed her approval. It was the first and only time that a son got to
choose his own mother.
The second point is that when God gives anyone a
task to do, He also gives them the ability and wherewithal to do it right. In
other words, God, by His grace, makes us fit to fulfill all that He calls us to
do. We need only give our “yes” to God. God, then, who chose Mary to be Mother
of Jesus the Messiah, gave Her the grace, the blessedness and the holiness that
made her worthy of that great dignity. She was fit to be the Mother of God and
to receive God Himself into her bosom. All that was needed was her assent. Mary
said “Be it done unto me according to thy word” and the incarnation was
achieved.
Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ. She is not the
Mother of the Trinity but she is the Mother of Jesus. She is the Mother of God.
As the Mother of God and as our Mother she continues to intercede for us in
Heaven. She continues to lead us to her Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Holy Mary,
Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
May God, through the intercession of His Blessed
Mother Mary, bless you abundantly in this new year.
Deacon Bernie Ouellette
