Today we celebrate Mary as the Mother of God and God-bearer!
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (January 1, 2019): NM 6:22-27; PS 67:2-3,5,6,8; GAL 4:4-7; LK 2:16-21
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
On this first day of the New Year and the Octave Day of Christmas we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God.
Of course, on Christmas Day we recognized her unique role in the Nativity of the Lord. And on Sunday we rejoiced with the beautiful Feast of the Holy Family. But today we single out Mary to honor her as the mother of Jesus Christ who is both her Son and the Son of God. It is because Jesus is both God and man, that we salute Mary as the Mother of God. This truth was accepted at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. when the lovely Greek form of this title was celebrated: Theotokos, or God-bearer.
Moreover, we clearly know that our Savior wants us to embrace His mother as our own. He told us so from the cross on which He hung on Good Friday. He put Mary into the care of St. John and asked them to treat each other as Mother and Son. Almighty God holds back nothing, even His own mother, in offering us His loving gift of salvation. Let us offer Him our thanks for His many mercies to us. “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (Numbers 6:24-26). Now we can commit ourselves to expressing gratitude to our Lord for the joy of sharing His mother with us each day of the year.
