MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

[cappie]

Today in our church calendar we celebrate Mary Mother of God. we give thanks to Mary, the Mother of God. Her response to the angel, born of a humble heart, brought us life and salvation in the Child conceived in her womb. Pope St Paul VI wrote regarding this Feast Day  “The attention of all should be directed toward the … Solemnity of Mary the holy Mother of God. This celebration, placed on Jan. 1 in conformity with the ancient indication of the liturgy of the City of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the “holy Mother … through whom we were found worthy to receive the Author of life.”

 As children of God, Paul says today, we are heirs of the Father’s blessings, which He promised to bestow on all peoples through the descendants of Abraham. This is the blessing that Aaron imparted to Israel, the people descended from Abraham. And this blessing comes to us through Mary and the Child.

St Luke tells us that the shepherds "went in haste" to find Christ, to seek him out amid his family.  They were eager to meet the Saviour, to spend time with him, to get to know him, to receive his blessing.

 

That's why Jesus came to earth in the first place - so that we could more easily find him. The history of humanity is the history of a people lost in darkness and searching for meaning, forgiveness, grace, and light. Jesus is the source of all those things. He is our salvation.  we hear that “after eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” It was apparently the custom in Jesus’ day to name a male child at the time of circumcision, which was the act by which he was made a member of the people of God. That Jesus’ parents had him circumcised and named on the eighth day after his birth demonstrates their piety and fidelity to the Law of Moses. The beginning of the story of Jesus is part of the larger, ongoing story of God’s love for God’s people. Jesus’ name tells us about his place in this story.

Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, through the angel Gabriel, God tells Mary that she will conceive and bear a son and that she is to “call him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.” In naming Jesus, God is telling us something about who he is. The name “Jesus” is a Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “the Lord helps” or “the Lord saves.” When we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus, we are celebrating the one through whom and in whom the Lord helps or saves his people.

We should not overlook what an extraordinary thing the naming of Jesus is. Before his teaching and preaching, his healings and miracles, his death and resurrection, Jesus is identified by God as the one through whom He will save his people.  In the naming of a tiny child, we catch a glimpse God’s plan to save the world through the gift of a vulnerable human being.

When we were given our names in baptism, we were made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.

Who are we? Most fundamentally, most deeply, we are beloved children of God, members of Christ, and through him heirs of the promised kingdom. How are we to live? We have our roles to play in God’s story of salvation by turning away from evil and wrongdoing, but putting our faith and trust in Christ, by believing in the articles of faith, and by keeping God’s commandments.

Like the shepherds, we too should make haste today to find Jesus with Mary and Joseph, to glorify God for His blessings. And like Mary, we should keep His word and reflect upon it, letting it dwell richly in our hearts