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Behold, your mother

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 We believe many things about Mary, and we think of her in many ways—the first disciple of Jesus; the greatest of saints. Throughout the year we celebrate her sinlessness and her assumption into heaven. But there's also a mysterious side to Mary, a part of our relationship to her we see in the words we use in prayer to her: Queen of the Universe, Splendor of the Church, Morning Star, Seat of Wisdom, Mystical Rose. Today's celebration of Mary as Mother of God invites us into this mystery, and scripture today helps us to give it words. A woman in a line of holy women who cooperated with God's grace to give birth to the people of God, Mary plays a starring role in the great drama of our redemption—which stretches back through both testaments of scripture to tell the story of a God who said, "You shall be my people, and I will be your God" (Jeremiah 30:22). In this story names are important. When people in scripture receive a name, it marks a new beginning in their relationship with God. Abram, our founding father in faith, became Abraham. Even God's people receive a name: Israel. In fact, they are named for another person who got a new name—Jacob. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. In blessing, God "puts the name" on the people. We become God's people and receive God's blessing. For their part, Mary and Joseph, obeying the angel's words, gave their child the name Jesus, the one who saves us, and so put the name Christ on those who follow him. And so Mary is the mother of blessing, and mother of the church. Through her first flowed the grace and mercy of her Son.Hail, Mary, full of grace . . . . Blessed are you . . . . Pray for us. For their part, Mary and Joseph, obeying the angel's words, gave their child the name Jesus, the one who saves us, and so put the name Christ on those who follow him. And so Mary is the mother of blessing, and mother of the church. Through her first flowed the grace and mercy of her Son.Hail, Mary, full of grace . . . . Blessed are you . . . . Pray for us. Mary is also the mother of another blessing: peace. The Lord . . . give you peace. Queen of Peace, we call her. In a time such as ours when destructiveness, war, the degradation of the environment, and other sins seem to be gaining the upper hand over peace, goodness, and the treasuring of God's creation, Mary abides with us in our hope for a reign of peace. Besides being a solemnity of Mary, today is also the World Day of Prayer for Peace. In a 2001 letter, Pope John Paul II prayed, "O Mary, Help of Christians, in our need we turn to you with eyes of love, with empty hands and longing hearts. We look to you that we may see your Son, our Lord. We lift our hands that we may have the Bread of Life. We open wide our hearts to receive the Prince of Peace." Mother of Jesus and Mother of God. Mother of the church and our Mother. As Saint Paul reminds us, God has adopted us in Jesus, with all the dignity that goes with that inheritance. We are now children of God. Christ's Spirit has entered us and allowed us, like him, to call God Abba, dear Father. Mary was and is the mother of this possibility. When the shepherds saw the infant Jesus lying in a manger, they made known what had been told them about this child. When they returned, they were glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Contemplating Jesus, Mary is the mother of contemplation, of seeing the presence of God in all things, even when this presence lies in the humble places of the world. Watching over Jesus, she became mother of those who hear the gospel, praise God for it, and make it known to others. In this Eucharist, our thanksgiving, we, too, hear and see the good news. In our worship we glorify God. This Mass also sends us to proclaim the gospel in our lives. With Mary, our mother, we ponder all these words and mysteries in our hearts, and we praise her as the mother of our faith.

Authors Joel Schorn

holy day/feast Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Numbers 6:22-27 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

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New beginnings

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 EACH NEW YEAR means beginning again. We start the new year with the promise of doing better in some area of our lives. We do well to compare our beginning (again) with God's way of beginning. God can begin, in an absolute sense, at zero. We need something from which to begin. The book of the Bible called Genesis tells of the beginning God made. Before it there was no universe to describe, no cosmos from which God drew forth material for making into our world. God simply began. We call this creation. There is a second book of the Bible called Exodus, depicting another kind of beginning, when God formed a new people whom God freed from bondage in Egypt and fashioned into the nation of Israel. Left to their own devices, it would not have happened. This we call redemption. The final book of the Bible is Revelation, and it presents a new creation, which God will produce at the end of time. We are assured it will be nothing like what we have experienced up until that point. Against this impressive background, our efforts at beginning are modest. But they can take on promise against the background of our celebration today of Mary, the Mother of God. Mary's motherhood of God is a beginning enterprise much more like God's than ours. That's why the church uses the Latin word genetrix, rather than the familiar mater, to describe her. Genetrix is "one who generates," and the word more readily lends itself to the idea of producing something without a precedent than does mater, which suggests previous "material" out of which something comes forth. Mary illustrates a beginning that is discontinuous with what has gone before. Jesus' beginning was unique. Today's scripture speaks of other beginnings in which God engages and proves helpful for us as we make resolutions at this time of the year about initiating new behavior. We seldom do what we resolve to do; perhaps we focus too narrowly on ourselves. To be more successful, we might broaden our perspective on what this task requires. Change calls for some discontinuity from our previous way of doing things, which may not have been successful, and a launch out into something new and different, as today's scripture suggests. For it speaks of God's action behind or beneath our action, bringing it to a level of accomplishment unfamiliar to us. When the Book of Numbers recalls Aaron's blessing that descended on the tribes of Israel, it shows them solidifying into a people and a nation that was something new and different from what had been before, and which they could not do for themselves. God's magnanimity compensated for their incapacity. When the Book of Numbers recalls Aaron's blessing that descended on the tribes of Israel, it shows them solidifying into a people and a nation that was something new and different from what had been before, and which they could not do for themselves. God's magnanimity compensated for their incapacity. In the reading from Galatians we hear of our new status as God's adopted children. In God's freeing us from the burden of being slaves to the law, we become God's own children, an achievement beyond our power. Luke's gospel recalls the nativity scene, when Mary became the one who brings us the child Jesus. Apparently comparable to other births, it moves beyond them by inciting an awe overcoming the shepherds, instilling profound reflection in Mary, and astonishing townsfolk hearing of this birth. These reactions accompanied Mary's role in God's involvement on our behalf. These biblical accounts show God's active presence in "beginning" a nation, an adopted childhood, a unique birth. In no way could they have occurred by human effort alone. They throw light on Mary as the one who brings us the Son of God. This act did not result from any resolve on her part. It was something more than human action. It manifests God actively present, with energy, vitality, and power, in Mary's generating action that breaks with all previous birth experiences, begetting something new and different. The church offers us this message about Mary on New Year's Day, as we make our resolutions for the coming year. If we broaden our perspectives beyond our own resolutions, mindful of God's action in Mary's motherhood, we position ourselves well for getting new things underway in the year ahead.

Authors Father Sebastian MacDonald C.P.

holy day/feast Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Numbers 6:22-27 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

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Mother of blessings

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 The monk and author Thomas Merton once wrote of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "In the actual, living person who is the Virgin Mother of God [is] all the wisdom of all the saints." Merton's words remind us that in a real way Mary was the first disciple of Jesus as well as the first saint—and a model for all the disciples and saints to come. Like all the saints, Mary gave herself completely, mind, body, and spirit, to God, and we honor her today for the great example she gives us. Mary saw and responded to the great blessing the Book of Numbers tells of. In one of the oldest passages of poetry in all of scripture, we hear words of benediction, of blessing. "This is how you shall bless the Israelites," God tells Moses to say to Aaron and his sons, the priests. That is a way of saying it was the will of God that the priests bless the people. They had no choice in the matter; they were under an obligation. It is a way of saying that God's blessing cannot be held back. What is this great blessing? God's goodness cannot be contained. "The Lord let his face shine upon you": the goodness that is in God overflows out of God's great love for us. God, the source of life and goodness, is gracious to us, scripture says. God "keeps us"—protects the good things we have received. God's goodness cannot be contained. "The Lord let his face shine upon you": the goodness that is in God overflows out of God's great love for us. God, the source of life and goodness, is gracious to us, scripture says. God "keeps us"—protects the good things we have received. God's blessing brings us peace as well, scripture reminds us, and it is for this reason Pope Paul VI placed the World Day of Peace on this day: "It is . . . a fitting occasion for renewing adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels," the pope wrote, ". . . and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace." God blesses us, too, with God's name. In fact, God's name is itself a blessing. "Invoke my name upon the Israelites and I will bless them," scripture says. God literally "puts the name" on us and claims us as God's own. In his own way Saint Paul says the same thing in his Letter to the Galatians. As we are children of God, so we are heirs. And in the gospel we hear about how the name intended for the Christ child was given him after his birth: Jesus, which means "God saves." Jesus is named for his purpose on earth: to be the savior of the world. We, too, bear the name—Christian—because we believe in and follow Jesus the Christ. We bear the blessing of that name: the goodness and saving love of God poured into our world. We do not, however, only carry that blessing. Having the name of God on us carries with it the call to respond. Like the shepherds who "went in haste" to the manger, we go with eagerness to see the Lord and serve him. Like those who were astonished at the story the shepherds told, we respond with amazement and enthusiasm to the good news of the gospel. Like them we give glory and praise for all we have heard and seen. Mary, the gospel says, "treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart." She heard; she pondered; she prayed. Mary, the mother of God and the mother of the church, shows us how to open ourselves to God's goodness. She guides us in becoming children of God. And she reveals what it means to listen to the good news of God's blessing and give ourselves in love and service to the mission of Jesus and to one another in him.

Authors Joel Schorn

holy day/feast Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Numbers 6:22-27 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

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