Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God; 1-1-2020

Nm 6:22-27   Gal 4:4-7   Lk 2:16-21

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

            There is an old tradition that Luke the evangelist knew the Blessed Mother and he wove her memories into his Gospel account. This view resonates because he presents the Annunciation, the birth and infancy of Jesus from her perspective. And, importantly for her relationship with the Church, Luke places her among the disciples in the upper room in the days before the first Pentecost. In other words, Mary gave birth to the Son of God and she was present when the Church was born. In referring to Mary, Luke frequently states that she “kept these things and reflected on them in her heart.” I’d like to stay with that because it is an acknowledgement of the wisdom that she accrued after a lifetime of contemplating her Son, who is the long-awaited Messiah, and discerning his Word in the world.

As Salvation History dramatically unfolds, Mary is there from the beginning. Indeed, without her fiat, the Son of God would not have been born and our salvation would remain suspended. As she raised her son as a child and teenager, she reflected on the events of her son’s life and what they meant for her and for us. Just eight days after the birth of Jesus, she had to have pondered Simon’s words at the Presentation at the Temple that “a sword will pierce (your heart) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:35). Following the Resurrection, she’s there among the disciples after everything has changed. As followers of the Risen Christ, they now discover that they share in his mission which will be realized in their fledging community.

From the Annunciation to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus to the birth of the Church at Pentecost, Mary is quietly present bearing without any reservation her motherly, human love for Jesus. Mary bore Jesus into the world and she discerned how the Resurrected Christ would move about in the signs of the times. Today’s Solemnity reminds us of Mary’s necessary role in Salvation History both as the Mother of God and also the Mother of the Church, which is the mystical Body of her Son.

As Jesus was dying on the Cross, he gave his mother to John, who is a surrogate for the Church. The way that Mary gave herself to her Son’s mission is the best gift she has given to us, her Son’s disciples. Her freedom to say “yes” to the archangel Gabriel, was necessary for him to be born into the world. After that , her thoughtful discernment made her one of the first to understand Jesus’ preaching and his signs. When the bewildered disciples gathered in the days prior to Pentecost, her example must have given them hope. Her Son had been brutally tortured and murdered and there she was serenely present, conveying that all is well.

            Following Pentecost, we see a remarkable transformation with the disciples. Throughout Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, he shows the early Church behaving exactly as Mary did! They gave themselves completely to Christ’s mission of bringing salvation to the world. And, they became a community of prayer and the interior life as they became bearers of Christ to the world.

Luke understood that as the Mother of God, Mary is a symbol of the Church. Just as the Word of God eternally says “yes” to the Father’s will, so does the Church. As Jesus is the primordial Sacrament of the divine life, the Church is the necessary means by which the divine life flows into the world sacramentally.

God the Father always respected Mary’s freedom and encouraged her curiosity.   Mary choose to serve Christ’s mission and she never wavered in that endeavor as she brought him into the world and pondered the significance of his life. Our Blessed Mother is offering us a model of the pattern of discipleship both at a personal and communal dimension.

People of God, the world received Jesus through the fiat of Mary; but, the task is not yet complete. Jesus has conquered sin, death, and the power of Satan—we are saved! But the liberation that Jesus preached as not yet become a reality as we gaze upon the unjust, dysfunctional , and disordered world. That’s why Jesus entrusted his mission to the Church. By virtue of our baptism, we are charged to bear him into the world. Mary’s story is now ours. We have now become the point of continuity that Mary was in Luke’s Gospel. When we give ourselves over to Christ’s mission in our ordinary experience, in big ways and small, we bring Christ into the world in new ways. Amen.