Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

V/​ I will turn to you O God, 

R/​ to God who gives joy to my youth

V/​ Give me the Wisdom that sits by your throne; 

R/ that I may be counted among your children

Lord, in your all-providential plan, you have led me to this moment to rediscover me in your Word and Wisdom. Aid me to make this time of meditation and prayer enriching, transforming, and liberating for my well-being and others. Amen!

DIVINE MOTHERHOOD OF MARY

Blessed by God, Identified in God

Num 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3, 5-8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21

On this first day of the year, the readings for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God make us want to focus on where true blessedness lies, and who are the chosen ones identified in God. God’s blessings transverse beyond fun fair, to mean a protective hand; a certain overshadowing and guidance, despite any appearances to the contrary. This reverberates with that timeless assurance for the pilgrim Israel in Exodus (13:21), which Christ fulfils as the “God with Us.”

So, when the passage reads on this day, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you;…” for us, today, it means that this presence of the Lord is a guaranteed mark of being identified with God, our beatitude. How then shall we fittingly conjure the blessedness of Mary, who “found favour before God” and “most blest amongst women”?

The basic truth of Mary’s blessedness patterns our identification with God as heirs of the divine life in Christ. The ultimate source of all blessedness finally breaks into our “Kairos” as God’s redeeming overshadow of grace. Paul underscores the ministry of time in the unfolding God’s purpose for humanity as it reads in Gal 4:4-5, “When the appointed time came, God sent forth His eternal Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem the subjects of the law.”

Luke, in resounding the fulfilment of Isaiah 9 verse 6, tells us how Mary’s Son is called “Son of the Most High” and “the Son of God” (Lk 1:32, 35). This shows that in the full context, in which the eternal “reign” proper to God is promised him and the symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant is related to the Mother, the inference is as immediate as in the Pauline texts. If no one ever gave birth to God, it would not be proper to call Mary the Mother of God. But in fact, the Word of God became flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14); he became man, but that does not mean that he stopped being God. Such that we can say, without any fear of blaspheming, that the one born of Mary, human like us, is God, true God, and true man.

“How is this granted me,” said Elizabeth “that the mother of my Lord should come to me”?  She uses a title which amongst Hellenist Jews translates as God – “Adonai.” This is the highest honour of our race, in which only God can bestow. Hail Mary! “most blest amongst Women” honoured by God as God-bearer!

Indeed the title of the Blessed Virgin as “Mother of God” has an ecclesial implication by virtue of our baptism in Christ. This truth is well understood by St. Therese of Lisieux. She said, “[Mary] is spoken of as unapproachable, whereas she should be represented as easy of imitation. . . . She is more Mother than Queen… I believe that she will greatly increase the splendour of the elect . . . “ As the mother of our God, she still visits the assembly of God’s people with the maternal solicitude to the gaze of her Son. For this reason, she remains ever dear to Jesus, as a fervent disciple. Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” – said St. Maximilian Kolbe.

O Lord be gracious and bless us! And let your face shadow its light upon us as upon Mary. So will our souls make known your marvellous ways upon earth, and all people learn you saving help.

If we make a habit of attentively reading and meditating on the Word of the Father, we shall, in a sense, take part in the life of blessedness; making the Lord’s passion ours, his vision ours, knowing him intimately and others through him; and, perhaps without our realising it, become another incarnation for him who is our eternal blessedness; Mother of God, – Brother of God, Sister of God, friend of God, a people of God, of God who is Christ the Lord! We pray with St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, that we may be a kind of incarnation of the Word of God: becoming another humanity for him in which he can renew his whole mystery. Amen!