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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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Mary the Mother of God
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She was the key player in a centuries-old
drama that is
still running its course. She conceived and bore
a Son contrary to all medical laws. Though unmarried,
she brushed aside all thoughts of abortion.
By holding to her fiat, she turned history
upside down. Her affirmation to the angel was not
the stuttering response of an ingenue but a mature
affirmation that cost her a lifetime of service.
She was docile and obedient but future events would
prove her gallant and assertive too.
Beginning with the birth of her Son,
she must be counted
among the homeless of the world. She severed the
umbilical cord holding her to the Child. Her Boy,
though divine, was but clay in her sculptor's hands.
From day one, she knew what it meant to be on the
run as she fled to protect the Child's life.
She was marked as the mother of an illegitimate
Babe. There were ugly names for her and the Boy.
They were used. She did not understand her restless
Son, but she neither browbeat Him nor did she crush
His dreams. She worked from early AM to late PM.
She baked their bread daily and carried their water
on her head in tall jars from a nearby stream.
After her husband's death, she was without
funds and without job market talents. She and her
Boy lived below the official poverty level. She did
not self-destruct when her Son's sudden exit worsened
her economic straits nor did she consider demanding
income from Him.
She studied His adventurous career with
enthusiasm and
endangered her own life by joining Him on His lecture
dates. Time magazine wrote she knew His mission was
doomed to failure, but she always sustained Him.
Her Magnificat, spoken as a girl, reveals her even
then as a revolutionary regarding the poor. The record
will not allow her to be painted as a moderate.
She was completely aware of the world
about her and its
difficulties. James Tahaney says she taught us "love
is an active verb and that love is a synonym for
grow." She was with her Son when He was murdered
and was not cowed by His assassins. She did not blame
God for the death of her Son.
After His Ascension, she stood alone,
but she remained
undaunted. She said yes to life every step of the
way. She needed no Women's Liberation, for she was
already free. No woman in history holds more titles
than she - one hundred seventeen at the last count.
And the number still grows.
A peasant to the last and yet Harvard
historian Henry Adams calls her "the most powerful
religious symbol in fifteen hundred years of Western
history." Helen of Troy may have launched a thousand
ships, but the woman from Nazareth has launched a
million artists.
For twenty centuries, they have saluted
her with oils,
marble, music, pen, and now graphic art and computer.
Lippi, Botticelli, and El Greco would have judged
their opus incomplete unless they had painted her
on canvas.
Dante called her "daughter of her Son." Chaucer
hailed her as "of all flowers flower." Wordsworth
wrote of her as "our tainted nature's solitary boast." Gerard
Manly Hopkins compared her to the "air we breathe." Coventry
Patmore said she is our "only refuge from an abstract
Christ." Flannery O'Connor said life without her
would be similar to life without sleep.
Her favorite composer was JS Bach, for
he began each work with the words "Jesus, help" and
ended with "To God alone be glory."
Her favorite saint is the little-known
Alphege. He wrote centuries ago, "The one who does
not think of the wants of the poor is not a member
of the Body of Christ."
St John Vianney said she will only allow
herself rest after all her children have been saved.
A theologian says her cult has been
fostered more by poets than by his peers.
Though she was illiterate, no woman
has had more volumes
penned about her nor more universities named after
her.
She is the only woman in its history
to have appeared on
Time magazine's cover eleven times. Time's editors call
her the most celebrated woman who ever lived.
She needs none of us. It is we who need
her.
(Some of the above have been penned
by Authors Unknown.) |
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
Mary the Mother of God
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish
- see Spanish homilies
Mary the Mother of God
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
Mary the Mother of God |
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
Mary the Mother of God
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting
Christ in the Liturgy
Mary the Mother of God
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
Mary the Mother of God
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Contact Father at cbonar@cfl.rr.com; information about his book of homilies is available at www.clydebonar.com.
Mary the Mother of God |
Readings: Numbers 6: 22-27; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke
2: 16-21
Theotokos
Introduction
In the comic strip "Blondie," Dagwood names his resolutions
for the new year.1 First, to sleep late; second, "if
I’m late for work everyday, tough;" third, "log
more hours than ever on the sofa;" fourth, "double
the time I take for hot baths;" and fifth, "eat bigger
late night snacks whenever I want."
Dagwood calls these "five resolutions I know I can
keep."
Traditionally on New Year’s Day, we make resolutions.
A list of changes we’d like to make in our
lives. On this feast of Blessed Virgin Mary, the
Mother of God, let me suggest some Mary-inspired
resolutions.
Practice Our Roman Catholic Faith
First, let us resolve to practice our Roman Catholic
faith. Mary provides the example. As a faith-filled
young Jewish mother Mary brought her son Jesus to
be circumcised when he was eight days old. Because
God commanded, God said, Throughout all generations
every male child shall be circumcised when he is
eight days old. We find this command in Genesis (17:12).
Mary and Joseph did as their faith taught.
As Roman Catholics let us resolve to practice our
faith as carefully as did Mary follow her Jewish
traditions.
First and foremost, this means coming to Mass. The
primary prayer of our Church. Today let us renew
our resolution as a Catholic to go to Mass each and
every Sunday and each and every Holy Day of Obligation.
Let’s pledge to practice all our Roman Catholic
ways. For example, young couples in love, to get
married in the Church, with a nuptial Mass. Christ
instituted the Sacrament of Marriage, and by our
church wedding, we invite God to bless the newly
married couple. The new husband and wife invite God
to be a constant companion in their married life
together. As Catholics, let us resolve to be married
in the church.
As Roman Catholics, let us resolve to follow our
pope. Jesus said to the Apostle Peter, "you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew
16:18-19). Pope Benedict XVI continues a line of
popes reaching all the way back to the Apostle Peter.
To guide our church, to guard us against false teachings,
we look to the pope.
So many ways we practice our Roman Catholic faith.
This new year, let us resolve to practice our Roman
Catholic faith. As a good Jewish girl, Mary did as
her faith taught.
"reflecting on them in her heart"
A second resolution, let us form a habit of prayerful
reflection.
Our Gospel tells us, "Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart." Mary pondered all
that was happening to her. She reflected on a surprise
visit by an angel, she reflected on her surprising
pregnancy, the startling news that her son would
be the Son of God.
Mary pondered as she and Joseph traipsed to Bethlehem
to have her baby in a stable, then she watched shepherds
come to the stable saying they were told to look
for a baby lying in a manager. For sure, Mary had
a lot to think about. Mary rolled the events over
and over in her mind, trying to plumb to the depths
of their meaning.
A long time ago, Plato told us "The life which is
unexamined is not worth living."2 Everyday experience
tells us the same thing.
One coach never kicked anyone off the team until
he had thought about it overnight. He did not want
the anger of the moment to color his decision. Instead,
the coach had to ponder before deciding, to roll
over in his mind both his anger and the offense committed
by the team member.
We know how reflecting on scripture brings our faith
to life. For example, recall the story of Jesus asking
a Samaritan woman for a drink of water (John 4:7-26).
At a first reading we see a thirsty Jesus wanting
a drink. As we ponder in our heart this little story,
we see a deeper lesson: that Jesus only asks us to
do what is easy to do. The Samaritan woman did not
want to give Jesus the water because Jews and Samaritans
did not like each other. But, it was not a difficult
task. Just take her cup, dip the cup in her bucket
of water, and hand the cup to Jesus. Only her prejudice
made it a hard favor to do. Christ only asked for
a small act of kindness.
Our second resolution: to form a habit of prayerful
reflection.
Let us ponder what happens to us, both the everyday
events of life and the great moments of life. Mull
these events over in our hearts in light of lessons
from the Bible and from practicing our Roman Catholic
faith.
"the name given him by the angel"
A third resolution, totally to trust God. Mary trusted
when the angel told her to name her son Jesus. Mary
trusted God as she tried to explained to family and
friend her surprise pregnancy. Remember, Joseph almost
divorced her.
We need to trust God. God brings good even when awful
things happen. That’s our experience. A young
teenager riding his bicycle was hit by a truck. The
boy’s fault, not the driver’s. The boy
dies. A tragedy. The good: a family seldom seen in
church again became regular church go-ers. Every
Sunday they came to church, same pew, same Mass.
And, got active in the parish. God brings good out
of the accident, a family comes back to their faith.
We make a resolution, to trust God.
An example on the lighter side, St. ThérPse
of Lisieux wrote about an annoying nun.3 Sitting
behind ThérPse in chapel, the other nun made
curious little noises. Just enough in the quiet of
the convent to be quite bothersome. "That tiny noise" got
to ThérPse. In prayer, ThérPse turned
those annoying noises into what she called "delightful
music." With full trust in God, St. ThérPse
began to see the suffering Christ in the sister sitting
behind her. The annoying nun became an image of God.
Our third resolution, to trust God. We trust God
to bring good, even when awful things happen to us.
Conclusion
Way back in the fifth century, the Council of Ephesus
(431 A. D.) declared Mary to be "Theotokos." A Greek
word, "Theotokos" translates as "God Bearer." More
commonly, we call Mary the Mother of God. Today we
celebrate her feast.
Each of us is called to be a "God bearer," to give
birth to Christ in this world by the way we live
our Christian lives. This feast of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God, we make three resolutions
to focus our attention on being "God bearers." First,
to practice our Roman Catholic faith; second, to
form a habit of prayerful reflection; and third,
totally to trust God.
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As we start a new year, best wishes to each of you.
May the peace of Christ be with you, with your family
and friends, may God bless you throughout this new
year
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