Mary, Mother of God Homily

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all of you. Today we close our octave of Christmas with our attention placed upon the same mystery that was celebrated on Christmas Day. On December the 25th we celebrated the reality that God chose to take on human flesh and thus came to dwell among us. On this day, January the 1st, we again remember the reality of the Incarnation through the Blessed Virgin Mary. The whole octave of Christmas is about the continuation of our celebration of Christmas Day and therefore nothing should be any different with the day that is being celebrated this morning. Today we gather for this celebration of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God where our attention is not ultimately turned towards Mary, but instead to the manger where God chose to come and dwell among us through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we flock towards our Lord we cannot help, but to come through the intercession of our Blessed Mother.

Many fundamentalists are shocked when they hear this title attributed to our Blessed Mother. Maybe even a few of us are confused upon the meaning of a title that is so rich with theology. There should be no shock found here because this title stresses the very mystery of the Incarnation that we dwell upon during the season of Christmas. This title does not mean that Mary actually gave birth to the first person of the Holy Trinity, but instead that she gave birth to the second person of the Holy Trinity who is both fully divine and fully human. This great honor of being the mother of God was not one bestowed upon her by the Church, but instead was an honor that was given to her by God Himself at the Annunciation. From this celebration we should realize that our devotion to Mary is always leading us into a deeper relationship with her Son. Therefore this day that we celebrate takes us to the very mystery of the Incarnation through the motherhood of Mary.

Saint Paul points the reality of this motherhood out to us when he says that "God sent his son, born of a woman." This event that he is pointing out to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary is the reality of the Incarnation when God came to dwell among us. It was through this reality that we were all destined to be freed from the slavery of our sin. Mary gave her unending "yes" to God at the Annunciation which allowed her to become the "theotokos" which in English means the "God-bearer." Through her "yes" she brought God into the world to bring about the reality of salvation for each of us. If she is not truly the "God-bearer" then Christ is not God, but only merely human. And if Christ is merely human then we have nothing to celebrate on Christmas because none of us would of been redeemed from our sin. But instead we are able to triumphantly proclaim this day that Mary is indeed the Mother of God because her Son is indeed the second person of the Holy Trinity and thus we have been redeemed.

And so as we enter into this new year we have so many dreams and hopes for new opportunities. As we enter into this new year in pursuit of these may we not forget about the reality of the Incarnation that is being opened wide for us today by our Blessed Mother. All of our dreams and the new opportunities that face us in this new year should be discovered through the manger of Christ that she brings us towards. From this place we truly have so much to discover. In our gospel Mary reminds us of this through the reality that she reflected upon all these things in her heart. May we join with her in reflecting upon these same mysteries in our own hearts. When we join ourselves with our Heavenly Mother our hearts will always be opened wide to Christ. With the beads of our rosaries held triumphantly in our hands we will join with our Mother as she opens wide the mysteries of the life of her Son into our lives. 

From these mysteries that have been brought about from the reality of the Incarnation we will always come to encounter the face of Christ in our lives. It is through Mary that we will always be brought deeper into the heart of these mysteries for she was truly the one that was chosen by God to be the "God-bearer." With our hopes and desires for the year ahead may we always be joined with her and in return find ourselves laying at the floor of Christ's manger for the comfort that we are in search of. It was in 431 at the Council of Ephesus that Mary as the "theotokos" was affirmed by the Church and from the joy of this affirmation came a sea of people shouting from the streets: "Praised be the Theotokos!" As we enter into this new year with our own hopes and fears may we to come to shout: "Praised be the Theotokos!"