Homily for the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God

There’s a lot of activity in our Scriptural passages today:
- God speaking to Moses...
- St. Paul instructing the Galatians...
- Shepherds “glorifying God”...

But in the midst of all this speaking, the Blessed Virgin Mary sits in silence and serenity, “reflecting on these things in her heart.” So now, in order to approach the serenity of the Blessed Mother, let us also reflect on the words just now read to us.
First, God speaking to Moses:

God imparts to Moses and Aaron a Threefold Blessing which is still in use in our Liturgy today: This blessing is meant to be spoken with both tenderness and authority. It is meant to be applied like a soothing ointment to the fatigue and woundedness of the human condition. Although the Blessing is imparted in God’s Name, you’ll notice that the Name is not spoken... it is given simply as “The Lord.” Why is this? To the Hebrews, God’s name is too holy to utter, so they are given the sobriquet “the Lord.” For them, God had two names: Elohim: the ancient name for the God of Creation... and... Yahweh: the name revealed to Moses... This is the name of the God of relationship, close to His people. This name would only be used in worship, study and teaching.

So to attain further insight, we can say that: Elohim describes what God does... and... Yahweh describes who God is. To get around the injunction against pronouncing God’s Name, they — and we — most often use the title “the Lord” (Adonai, in Hebrew) because to speak God’s Name is to invoke His Sacred Presence. This is the reason for the Second Commandment: “Thou shalt not use the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Note now, the connection between the last phrase of our First Reading: “So shall they invoke my Name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them...” — and — the final phrase of today’s Gospel passage: “... he was named Jesus, the name given Him by the angel.” The name Jesus means, “God saves,” which echoes God’s Blessing given through Moses.

Now we look at Saint Paul’s instruction:
Saint Paul tends to assign causality to most everything — meaning — God is always in charge, guiding human destiny, as Saint Paul describes the Birth of Jesus in the following phrases:
 - in the fullness of time (God’s perfect unfolding of time)
- born of a woman (Christ is fully human/divine)
- born under the law (Obedience to Mary and Joseph, a living manifestation of Jewish law)

The causes yield their effect, as St. Paul writes further: “... so that we might receive adoption as sons.” This means that what Jesus is by nature (God’s only- begotten Son) we become by adoption — that is — not by birth (because of Original Sin) but by Baptism.

Now a new and more intimate Name of God is revealed to us by Jesus himself: Abba, or Father, whose closest translation into modern language is “Papa.” This brings us now to the Serenity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary’s inactivity might appear to be passive on the exterior, but there is something profound going on in her interior life. In her various responses to words spoken to her and events swirling around her, Mary models for us the two forms of silent, interior prayer: meditation and contemplation. Meditation is an activity of the mind seeking understanding, as Mary says to the Angel, “How can this be...?” Contemplation is more an activity of the heart, open to mystery: meaning to rest in God’s words, abiding in their supernatural meaning and effect, beyond the understanding of words and concepts. From this, Mary will say, “Let it be...” Both her meditative and contemplative praye allow her to say “Yes” to God’s Will, and in so doing, human history is changed.

This Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, placed by the Church here at the Octave of Christmas and the beginning of a new calendar year places Mary in the position of inviting us to continue to change human history, so to speak, by inviting and welcoming changes in our lives beyond mere New Year’s resolutions, in a resolve to renew and strengthen our faith and our “Yes” to God, through similar meditation (seeking God’s Will) and contemplation (considering our response to His Will)
Saint Luke tells us that Mary was startled and frightened by what God asked of her through the Archangel Gabriel . But if Mary can say “Yes” to a Virgin Birth, which changed not only her life, but the course of human history, we could gather the courage to embark on a newer, deeper sense of prayer that has the possibility of leading us in a new direction, not only for our prayer life and the practice of our faith, but perhaps even for our outlook on life and the way we might live from this point on.

Meditation and contemplation can sound like scary words, but these are simpler and easier than they might sound. Meditation involves a search. So we can read passages from the Bible, look through a favorite prayer book, read some theology from on-line Catholic sources, and let these resources speak to us in perhaps a new manner, differently from how they did before. Contemplation begins when we put the book down and think through what we’ve read. Here learning is brought to prayer or silence and allows a new connection with the teachings and the mysteries of our Faith.

When you come upon difficulties in these forms of prayer, ask your Patron Saint for help, or if you need further assistance, you can “bring out the big guns” and ask Our Blessed Mother: She was pretty good at it.

We’ll close now with the Blessing God asked Moses to impart:

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you kindly, and give you peace.