Deacon Michael’s Homily for Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God - January 1, 2023

Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God - January 1, 2023

The readings for this Sunday can be found HERE

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 During this Christmas Season we are reminded that one of the pre-eminent images of our faith in the collective imaginary

…is that of a mother and newborn infant child

…an image that evokes wonder and tenderness, vulnerability and a certain strength, gentleness and kindness, love and responsibility.

All good things.

For mothers and fathers and families this arrival also means that life will never be the same from that day on.

And so it was for Mary and Joseph at Bethlehem. 

Life would never be the same for them again.

And it wasn’t to be the same for the rest of humanity either

…right down to us.

Each January 1st of the church year is the Solemnity of the Virgin Mary, the Mother God.

This year it falls on this Sunday, affording us the occasion to contemplate Mary

..and her significance for us…and our faith.

She is the first among us.

She shared our human existence and gave her Son his human nature

…whose divine nature was already, from the “the beginning”.

She was the first to know what was “going on”...though the path remained mysterious.

Her Magnificat foreshadowed the revolutionary, upside down nature of her Son’s kingdom.

She was the first to believe in her son…and so the first disciple.

She was an eyewitness to her son’s death at Golgotha.

Her care was commended to his disciples from the Cross.

She was present at the birth of the Church at Pentecost.

And in the end God took her to Himself

…fulfilling uniquely for her the promise of her son’s bodily Resurrection

…the same fulfillment we await in joyful hope.

For all of this the Church has seen Mary as our mother in the order of grace.

At the beginning of her journey, Mary’s response to the extraordinary and barely comprehensible offer laid out by the Angel Gabriel was a huge leap of faith and courage.

Her “May it be done to me according to your word” may be the most impactful “trust fall” in human history.

All that happened subsequently for us and our faith flowed from this response.

It reminds us all of the extraordinarily strange and often barely comprehensible nature of the mysteries that lie close to the heart of our faith.

In today’s Gospel the shepherds didn’t return “glorifying and praising God” because they were swayed by eloquent reason, sophisticated theology, or enlightened politics

…but because they had witnessed something wonderful and mysterious that they could scarcely comprehend

..and so it remains for us.

At the wedding feast at Cana, at Jesus’ water to wine miracle, Mary tells the uncomprehending servants to “Do whatever he tells you”

…words aimed at our ears as well.

And His words and deeds speak volumes to us

…about the commandments and compassion

…about healing, and mercy 

…about honoring our word and the truth

…about real treasure and false gods

…about trust and dependence

…about anger, judgment and loving even enemies.

Doing what He tells us is hard, and we need God’s grace to do it.

To help us, our spiritual tradition holds up Mary as a pre-eminent model of prayer

…taking her exchange with the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation as a guide.

Mary was open to and received the word of God that came to her through the angel.

Though its means and ends remained shrouded in mystery she responded with “May it be done to me according to your Word”

…so enabling all that followed that revealed the great offer of salvation to the human race through her son.

We can learn from Mary’s example.

We too are called to be open to the Word spoken to us through the totality of her son’s life, death and resurrection

…and the great hope held out that where he is now we one day will be.

This calls for a response lived out in gratitude by us loving one another as he loved us, sacrificially and to the end.

This response will reveal to our world this Jesus, this incarnate Word, this living icon of Divine Love, extending this love’s power and invitation.

In this receiving, responding and revealing we are honoring not only our God, but our  Mother Mary, who shares with us the wisdom of her example.

In light of all of this it is no surprise that, in prayer, the ‘Hail Mary” is second only to the ‘Our Father” that her Son taught us.

Its words are simple and profound.

They echo words of Gabriel to her at the Annunciation “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with You”

…and the words of Elizabeth at the Visitation “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”

..and conclude asking her to pray for us now

…and at the hour of our death as she prayed for her own son at the hour of his

…from that place where she has joined him already

..and where we one day hope to be also.

Contemplating all of this, let's end by honoring her by offering together those familiar words …”Hail Mary…”