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Gospel: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Today, we are celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the passage will be taken from the Gospel according to St Luke.

So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they have been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them.

As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they have heard and seen, just as they have been told.

When the eighth day came and the child was circumcized, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.


During January 1, New Year's Day, we complete the octave celebration of Christmas Day. It's an often a overlooked liturgical fact that we celebrate Christmas Day for eight straight days. We do this also with Easter Day, which concludes with the great celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday.

On this, the eighth octave of Christmas, we turn our focus to the unique and beautiful fact that God chose to enter our world through a human mother. Mary is called the "Mother of God" for the simple fact that her Son is God. She was not the mother of her Son's flesh alone, nor the mother of his human nature. This is because the person of Jesus, the Son of God, is one person. And that one person took on flesh within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Though becoming the Mother of God was a pure gift from Heaven and not something that Mother Mary merited on her own, there was one particular quality that she had that made her uniquely qualified to fulfill this role. That quality was her immaculate nature.

First, Mother Mary was preserved from all sin when she was conceived within the womb of her mother, St Anne. This special grace was a grace that was imparted to her from the future life, death, and resurrection of her Son. It was the grace of salvation, but God chose to take that gift of grace and transcend time to impart it to her at the moment of her conception, thus making her the perfect and pure instrument necessary to bring forth God into the world.

Second, Mother Mary remained faithful to this gift of grace throughout her life, never choosing to sin, never wavering, never turning from God. She remained immaculate throughout her life. Interestingly, it is this choice of hers, to be forever remain obedient to the will of God in every way, that makes her more fully the Mother of God than the simple act of bearing him within her womb. Her act of perfect unity with the will of God throughout her life makes her, also, the perfect mother of divine grace and mercy and perpetually the spiritual Mother of God, continually and perfectly bringing him into our world.

Reflect, today, upon these most solemn mystery of our faith. This eighth day of the Octave of Christmas is a solemn celebration, a celebration worthy of our pondering. The Scripture above reveals not only how our Blessed Mother approached this mystery but also how we are to approach it. She "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." Let us reflect this mystery, also, in our hearts and allow the grace of this holy celebration to fill us with joy and gratitude.

Amen.

x------x

Picture from Pixabay.

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