Homily for Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Homily for the Solemnity
of Mary, Mother of God
Jan. 1, 2012
Collect
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Harrison, N.Y.

“O God, thru the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary you bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation” (Collect).

Those of us of a certain age—which means anyone my age and older, which means very few of you—remember when Jan. 1 was a feast called “The Circumcision of Our Lord and the Octave Day of Christmas.” The gospel reading for today is identical with that of the 2d Mass of Christmas Day, except for adding a verse about circumcising and naming Jesus on the 8th day after his birth, i.e., today, the “octave day.”

But after the 2d Vatican Council (1962-65, before most of you were born), it became a solemn feast dedicated to the Virgin Mary, specifically as Mother of God. And then Pope Paul VI began the custom of celebrating Jan. 1 as World Day of Peace, a day of praying for world peace, peace among nations and between peoples, and committing ourselves to work for peace.

Add in that Jan. 1 is for most societies the beginning of the civil year—and you have a grand hodge-podge of observances, and elements of all them find their way into the liturgy.

The opening prayer of Mass on Jan. 1 notes that God bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation thru Mary, who was both virgin and mother according to God’s plan. God offers his salvation to the whole human race, and his offer is a grace, a freely offered gift. It’s not something you or I have earned or have any proper claim on, like an inheritance, a salary, or an entitlement. Since God doesn’t owe us sinners anything, we can hardly begrudge what he gives to someone else as well as to us. We can hardly be unhappy that God restores human dignity and offers his love to everyone—man, woman, child, of whatever race or nationality, of every period of human history, rich or poor, immigrant or native, smart or mentally impaired, healthy or sick, born or still in the womb (make any other distinction that you want).

This universal dignity of human beings flows from what God has done for us thru Jesus Christ, the son of the Virgin Mary. By becoming a human being, the Eternal Son of God bestowed upon humanity a new dignity, or restored to humanity the dignity that God originally intended when he created men and women in his own image—an image that we mar and tarnish and distort by sin. That dignity is in fact the theme that Pope Benedict has chosen for this year’s 45th World Day of Peace. He titles his message, “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace,” and he outlines a program for teaching the young that human dignity is the path to justice and to peace.

“Education,” the Pope says, “is the most interesting and difficult adventure in life.”* You’ve all gone to school, so you know what that means. When you remember that Benedict was himself an educator, a university professor, for many years, you realize further that he knows what he’s talking about.

The 1st place where education takes place, tho, isn’t in the university or in any sort of classroom. The Holy Father reaffirms what the Church has always taught: “Parents are the first educators. The family is the primary cell of society. It is in the family that children learn the human and Christian values which enable them to have a constructive and peaceful coexistence. It is in the family that they learn solidarity between the generations, respect for rules, forgiveness, and how to welcome others. The family is the first school in which we are trained in justice and peace” (ibid.). If you reflect upon your own experience growing up, and your own parental experience if you’re a parent, you probably recognize the Holy Father’s wisdom.

The Pope also links justice and peace to the pursuit of truth. He quotes St. Augustine, who asked, “What does man desire more deeply than truth?” (n. 3). The most fundamental truth that we all want to know is: Who are we? What are human beings? What is the purpose of our lives? Benedict answers: “Man is a being who bears within his heart a thirst for the infinite, a thirst for truth—a truth which is not partial but capable of explaining life’s meaning—since he was created in the image and likeness of God. The grateful recognition that life is an inestimable gift, then, leads to the discovery of one’s own profound dignity and the inviolability of every single person. Hence the first step in education is learning to recognize the Creator’s image in man, and consequently learning to have a profound respect for every human being and helping others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity” (ibid.).

How we live such a life—conscious of our own dignity as redeemed images of God, and respecting that same image in every other person—is what makes us just or unjust, a practicing disciple of the Lord Jesus or a practicing sinner. It is what builds peaceful relations between individuals and between nations. It is the fundamental Christmas message, the message given to you and to me to live as best we can and to hand on to others thru education, perhaps, and certainly thru the witness of our lives.

* “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace,” Jan. 1, 2012, n. 2.

Photo credits(1) Madonna and Child: Your humble blogger, at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington
(2) Pope Benedict: Catholic News Service