Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God & New Year's message, 2023 (Eight minute homily in one page)
Since we celebrate the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God on New Year’s Day, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year? I pray that the Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary may enrich your lives during the New Year with an abundance of Divine blessings. Today’s Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, is a very appropriate way to begin a new year, reminding us to rely on the powerful intercession of our Heavenly Mother. The Church also observes the World Day of Peace on this day and invites us to pray specially for lasting peace in the world throughout the New Year. (You may add an anecdote)
Scripture lessons summarized: Today’s first reading gives us, for the New Year, the beautiful Divine blessing from the book of Numbers, and the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 67) begs for that blessing. In the second reading, Paul reminds the Galatians and us that God’s Son has become one of us through Mary and that it is through her son, Jesus that we have become the children of God. Today’s Gospel describes how the shepherds spread to all their neighbors the Good News surrounding the birth of Jesus which the angel had revealed to them, and how Mary treasured "all these things" in her heart. The Gospel also tells us that on the day of Jesus’ Circumcision, the Child received the name Jesus which had been chosen by God Himself.
Traditional belief and Church doctrine: We honor Mary primarily because God honored her by choosing her to become the mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, when He took on human flesh and became man, as stated in the Bible. The angel said to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…” (Lk 1:30-32).
After the Angel had received her consent to become the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:42-43; RSV 2 Catholic) Hence, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), and in AD 451, the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the Divine Motherhood of Mary as a dogma, an official doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church.
Life messages: 1) Let us strive to be pure and holy like our Heavenly Mother. All mothers want their children to inherit or acquire their good qualities. Hence, let us honor Mary, our Heavenly Mother, by practicing her virtues of trusting Faith, obedience to the word of God, purity, and humble, selfless, committed service.
2) Let us make the New Year meaningful by having every day a) some noble thing to dream, b) something good to do, and c) someone to love, the first Person being Jesus. 3) Let us sanctify every day of the New Year: a) by offering every morning, all the activities of the day for God’s glory, thus transforming them into prayers; b) by asking for the anointing and strengthening of the Holy Spirit to do good to others and to avoid evil; c) by remaining faithful to our family prayers and Bible reading at night; d) by asking God’s pardon and forgiveness for our sins committed during the day; and e) by seeking God’s special protection during our sleep. Before we sleep, let us say, “Good night, Lord,” repeating Jesus’ last words from the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit." (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) LP/23
SOLEMNITY OF MARY THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD (Jan 1, 2023) Numbers 6:22-27, Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21
Homily starter anecdotes: # 1: “You are my mother now.” In 1929, just 17 days short of his 9th birthday, the young Karol Wojtyla — the future Pope St. John Paul II — came home from the school in the evening. He was accustomed to see his father — a strong soldier in the Polish army — praying on his knees on their parlor’s hardwood floor. That day, when the young Karol, saw his father praying, he saw his dad’s knees bathing in a pool of tears. “What’s wrong, Papa?” the young future Pope asked his dad. “Karol, your mother has died!” was his father’s reply. Not knowing quite what to do, the eight-year-old ran out of his home to the local parish Church in Wadowice, less than half a block from the Wojtyla apartment. He entered the Church, almost instinctively ran up the aisle of the Church to a kneeler in front of a statue of Our Lady and, with his own tears, said to her: “Blessed Mother of Jesus, I don’t know why God took my mother to His Home at the time He did. But I do know one thing: YOU are my mother now!” The Holy Father, who entrusted himself to our Lady before his ninth birthday, continued to consecrate himself to her ever after. His very motto, “Totus Tuus,” comes from a prayer of consecration to our Lady written by St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, which he prayed every day: “I am all yours, O Mary, and all I have is yours. I take you completely into my home. Give me your heart, O Mary,” so that I may love God with it.” (Fr. Roger J. Landry) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 2: Smiling child and his mother: There is a beautiful little story about a long, tedious train journey, made one Christmas day by some elderly nursing home residents who were on their way to a vacation spot. At one station, a young mother with a small child entered the train. The child smiled at all the grim faces around him and began moving from one lap to another talking, shouting with joy, and chatting with everyone. Instantly, the grim and silent atmosphere in the train was changed to one of joy and happiness. -- Today we remember with joy and gratitude, how Mary and her Divine Son Jesus transformed a hopeless, joyless, sinful world into a place of joy and happiness. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 3: # Deciding to jump: A boy asked his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hangs over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"
The dad replied, "Two."
"No," the son replied. “Here is the question again: There are three frogs, and one decided to jump, how many are left?"
The dad said, "Oh, I get the point! If one decided to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."
The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump." -- Does that sound like our last year’s resolutions? Great inspiration and great resolutions, but oftentimes we only decide, and months later we are still on the same limb of doing nothing. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 4: “There’s a real big difference between her son and me.”: A shoeshine boy was plying his trade in New York’s Grand Central Station. A silver medal danced at his neck as he slapped his shine cloth, again and again, across a man’s shoes. “Sonny,” said the man curiously, “what’s the hardware around your neck?” It’s a medal of the mother of Jesus,” the boy replied. “Why her medal?” said the man. “She’s no different from your mother.” “Could be,” said the boy, “but there’s a real big difference between her Son and me!” -- The boy’s devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus, invites me to ask: What role does Mary play in my life? How might she play an even bigger role? (Mark Link in Vision 2000). (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction: Since we celebrate the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, on New Year’s Day, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year? I pray that the Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary may enrich your lives during the New Year with an abundance of God’s blessings. There are 19 Marian feast days, solemnities, and memorials on the liturgical calendar, ranging from the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God on January 1 to the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. There are May devotions to Mary, and October is the month of the Holy Rosary, of which Mary is Queen. And then of course the Church has dedicated every Saturday to the Blessed Virgin.
Today we celebrate the oldest of all Marian feasts in our liturgy, most appropriate for those of us concerned with new beginnings, new resolutions, and renewed hopes. Today’s Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, is a very appropriate way to begin a new year. This celebration reminds us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is also our Heavenly Mother. Hence, our ideal motto for the New Year 2023 should be ”To Jesus through Mary!" This is an occasion to renew our devotion to Mary, who is also Mother of the Church because she is our spiritual mother — and we are the Church. “Pope St. Paul VI, at the conclusion of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council, Nov. 21, 1964, [declared] the Blessed Virgin Mary … ‘Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother.’”(America, March 3, 2018). Then, in 1970, Pope St. Paul VI instituted the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In his encyclical on devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Marialis Cultus, he wrote, "This celebration, assigned to January 1st in conformity with the ancient liturgy of the city of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the ‘holy Mother … through whom we were found worthy … to receive the Author of life.’ The solemnity shows the relationship of Jesus to Mary. It’s a perfect example of how we should venerate Mary under all of her titles and is a good foundation for our understanding of Mary’s place in Christology. The Church puts this solemnity on the first day of the New Year to emphasize the importance of Mary’s role in the life of Christ and of the Church. We commemorate the various saints on the different days of the year, but Mary is the most prominent of them all. She has a special role and mission given to her by God. As Mother of our Redeemer and of the redeemed, she reigns as the Queen at the side of Christ the King. She is a powerful intercessor for all of our needs here on earth. In celebrating her special feast day, we acknowledge this great gift for the Church and world; we call on her to be actively involved in our daily life; we imitate her virtuous life as a great inspiration; and we cooperate with all the graces we get through her.”
The Church observes this day also as the World Day of Peace and invites us to pray specially for peace in the world. Inspired by Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, Pacem in Terris, Pope Paul St. Paul VI, in 1967, instituted this feast, first celebrated January 1, 1968.
Today’s Scripture summarized: In the first reading, taken from the book of Numbers, God gives Moses and Aaron the formula they should use while conferring the Divine blessing upon the Israelites: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His Face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you and give you peace” (Nm 6:24-26; RSV2Catholic) The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 67) begs for the blessing of God, saying, “May God have pity on us and bless us; may He let His Face shine upon us.” In the second reading, Paul reminds the Galatians that God’s Son has become one of us through Mary, and that it was through Him that they have become the children of God. Today’s Gospel describes how the shepherds spread to all their neighbors the Good News surrounding the birth of Jesus which the angel had revealed to them. Further, Luke tells us how Mary treasured "all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Lk 2:19) The Gospel also recounts that on the eighth day after His birth the Child was circumcised and received the name Jesus that was chosen by God Himself.
Traditional belief: Actually, the Feast of Mary, Mother of God is a very ancient feast, which used to be celebrated on October 11th. Today’s feast answers the question, “Why do Catholics honor Mary?” Non-Christians sometimes believe that we Catholics worship Mary as a goddess who gave birth to our God. Non-Catholic Christians argue that there is no Biblical basis for honoring Mary, and that Catholics worship her and make her equal to God. They fail to understand why we honor Mary and name Churches and institutions after her. They do not understand what we mean by calling her the Mother of God. The truth is that we Catholics do not worship Mary as we worship, adore, God. We honor her, respect her, love her, and seek her intercession, praying, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…." We do not, ever, equate her with God nor replace God with her. Rather, we honor her, primarily because God honored her by choosing her to become the Mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, when He took on our flesh and became Man.
Biblical basis: We learn the great truth that Mary is the Mother of God from St. Luke’s Gospel, in the message given by the angel to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…” (Lk 1:30-32; RSV2Catholic) Once Mary said yes, the Holy Spirit created in her womb the human nature that God the Son would assume. Since motherhood is of the person and not of the nature alone, and since Mary is the mother of Jesus, then she is rightly called the Mother of God. After the angel had received her consent to become the Mother of God and departed, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth. At Mary's greeting Elizabeth said, ”Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:42-43; RSV2Catholic). The Holy Scriptures teach us that Jesus was both God and man. John writes: "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (Jn 1:14). St. Paul refers to this event when he writes to the Galatians, “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,” and as, "eternally begotten of the Father." So Bible teaches that Mary was the mother of the God-Man Jesus, not in the sense that she gave birth to Jesus as God, but in the sense that the Baby she bore had the nature of God and the nature of Man.
The doctrine of the Church: Based on these references in the New Testament and on the traditional belief of the early Church, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), because "according to the flesh" she gave birth to Jesus, Who was truly God as well as truly man from the first moment of His conception by Mary. The Council defined Mary as the Mother of God both to honor her and to safeguard the dogma that Jesus Christ is not just truly God but also truly man. The Nestorians – followers of Nestorius, the 5th-century archbishop of Constantinople – taught that Christ was two persons in one: the man Jesus and the Divine Son of God. This view was condemned at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), which insisted that He is one Person with two natures, Divine and human. The most emphatic way they could say this was to affirm that Mary was not just the mother of the man Jesus, but that she was the mother of God. This was to say that Christ was one Person, not two. The word used was Theotokos, (Greek for ‘God-bearer’).
The Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) continued the use of this term, and it has become orthodox Christian teaching. Note that this teaching is more a statement about Christ than about Mary – or rather, equally so. Icons of the Theotokos are common now in the West. It was twenty years after the AD 431 Council of Ephesus that the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the Divine Motherhood of Mary as a Dogma, an official doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. Since Jesus is God and Mary is his mother, she is the Mother of God, the Mother of the Messiah, and the Mother of Christ, our Divine Savior. We also learn from the Holy Scriptures and Sacred Tradition that God filled the mother of His only Son with all celestial graces, freed her at the moment of her conception from original sin through the future (prevenient) merits of the death of Jesus, allowed her to play an active role in the redemptive work of Jesus, and finally took her to Heaven, body and soul, after her death. As He was dying on the cross, Jesus gave us the precious gift of His own mother to be our Heavenly Mother.
The historical Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Based on https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/555/article/historical-mary , Dec. 2005): Mary’s real name was Miriam. She spoke Aramaic (Southern Syriac) with a Galilean accent. Like the other women of her time, she was probably an illiterate, hard-working and healthy village girl, who labored in the field and in the kitchen. (If the tradition of her being raised in the Temple as a young girl is true, she might have learned to read Hebrew and sing Psalms). She knew her Hebrew prayers and understood some words and expressions in Greek and Latin, as these were used in Galilee by the Roman soldiers and the Greek merchants and pilgrims. She might have been fair-skinned, dark haired and dark eyed. At the time of the Annunciation, she was probably thirteen or fourteen. Joseph might have been a young man or a widower with children. In villages like Nazareth, four or five related families lived in adjacent houses around an inner courtyard. Mary gave birth to Jesus, probably in 4 BC, and she was younger than fifty and a widow when her son Jesus was crucified. After remaining in Nazareth for a few years, sharing the bitter experiences of the early Christian community, she might have moved to Ephesus along with John and died there. Jesus’ brothers and sisters mentioned in the Gospel were either children of Mary’s sisters or the children of Joseph’s brothers or even children of Joseph by an earlier marriage. Mary can easily identify herself with the poor and the oppressed and their hardships and aspirations, as she was part of that peasant community, which was forced to pay taxes to the Romans, to Herod the king and to the Temple (tithes). (For a scholarly article, visit: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/the-quest-for-the-historical-mary
Life messages: 1) Let us strive to be pure and holy like our Heavenly Mother. All mothers want their children to inherit or acquire their good qualities. Our Heavenly Mother is no exception. With Joseph, she succeeded in training the Child Jesus, so that He “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him” (Lk 2:40); RSV2Catholic). Hence, our best way of celebrating this feast and honoring our Heavenly Mother would be to promise her that we will practice her virtues of Faith, obedience, purity and loving, humble service, that we may become the saintly sons and daughters of our Heavenly Mother, the holy Mother of God.
2) We need our Heavenly Mother’s prayers to have a better physical life and spiritual life in the New Year: Let us ask for our Heavenly Mother’s help so that we may glorify God with a healthier physical and spiritual life and a better appreciation of life in a culture of death. We need a Super-Mother like Jesus’ Mother Mary to stop millions of pregnant women from killing their babies by abortion, and to encourage nations to enact and implement laws to stop homicides, physician-assisted suicides, mercy-killing and mass murders by terrorist and fanatic groups.
3) We need to honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus: “We honor Mary by actively participating in today’s Mass and in all the Marian feasts of the Church throughout the year. In these Masses and at other times, we give Mary hyperdulia (an honor greater than that given to the saints (dulia) and less than the adoration we offer to God), because of the gifts of grace God granted her and because of the way she responded to these gifts. We also honor her in all the forms of Marian prayer we say: The Rosary, the Angelus, the Regina Coeli, the Hail Holy Queen, the Memorarae, and so on. These are prayers we should pray so often we have them memorized. We can honor Mary by cultivating an interior life like hers. Mary meditated on, that is, thought about, the events of her life in relation to God’s plan of salvation. We are participants in God’s plan of salvation, too. We are God’s instruments and fellow workers in God’s kingdom. Everything that happens to us has a good meaning and it is up to us to try, with God’s help, to discover and appreciate it. Mary’s words at the wedding feast of Cana reveal her basic orientation, which we can apply to ourselves: ‘Do whatever He tells you.’We can honor Mary by praying for her intercession.” (DHO).
4) Three ways to make the New Year meaningful (William Barclay): Have a) something to dream, b) something to do, and c) Someone to love. “I have a dream’” said Martin Luther King. We should all have a noble plan of action (dream a noble dream), for every day in the New Year. We need to remember the proverb: “Cherish your yesterdays, dream your tomorrows, but live your today." It has been truly said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. We must not be barren fig trees, nor barren branches in God