Icon of the Mother of God Hodigitria |
Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm 67:2,3,5,6,8
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21
As the Christian faith began to
spread throughout the nations in the first centuries after the Death,
Resurrection, and Ascension of Our Lord, many questions began to arise. Things
that most of us take for granted or might not think to ask were brought up: Is
the Holy Spirit God? Is Jesus God? Is He also a man? How does that work? Are
the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Father all the same or are they different? How
can we have one God and yet say these three are God? These are just the high
points of thousands of questions that began to be asked as the Church began to
grow in understanding of the Scriptures and the God of the Universe.
Of course, as these questions arose,
they had to be dealt with. As we gather here today to celebrate this Solemn
Feast of Mary under the title of Holy Mother of God, we are really celebrating
a belief of the Church that was clarified 1600 years ago at an Ecumenical Council
in Ephesus, in current-day Turkey. There the Church pronounced that since Jesus
Christ is the Word of God and Word made flesh, it is right to say that He is
fully God and thus that it is proper to say that Mary is the Holy Mother of God,
or more true to the Greek theotokos –
the God-bearer.
With this definition of Mary as
Mother of God, Mother Church showed that in knowing about the Lord Jesus we
could also come to know about Mary. This colors the other teachings about Mary
that were believed since the earliest of times and which were clarified
throughout the centuries: Mary’s perpetual virginity, that she never sinned,
that she was immaculately conceived in her mother’s womb and assumed into
Heaven at the end of her life, that all grace passes through the hands of Mary,
and that she is the Mother and Queen of us all. While such descriptions or
titles can often seem a bit far-fetched or overly-pious, the fact that she had
the specific blessing of bearing God Himself in her own womb makes these other
titles understandable and almost a given. But beyond all of these titles and
theological terms, there is something for us here today to really pause and
reflect upon.
Let us look for a moment at the
life of Mary. She was blessed with these special gifts and graces not just
because God the Father wanted to do so. She was blessed with these gifts
because the Lord had a plan for her, He had created her and guided her
throughout her life so that when the time came, she would be able to say yes to
the angel Gabriel and ultimately gain for us the gift of salvation.
As we come here today to
celebrate this Solemn Feast and begin the New Year, it seems to me that rather
than, or in addition to, making a resolution for ourselves, why not spend some
time in prayer and ask the Lord what He wants of us? All of us have gifts, and
even weaknesses, that the Lord desires to work through to continue to spread
the Good News of Jesus Christ and the gift of Salvation. The challenge is to
find those gifts, to say yes to the Lord’s desires, and to pray for the courage
to put them into action. May God grant us all of these graces.
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