1/1/2016 – Solemnidad de María, la Madre de Dios – Números 6, 22-27; Lucas 2, 16-21

       En la eucaristía, damos gracias por nuestra fe y por la salvación que tenemos en nuestro Señor Jesucristo.  Estamos en la temporada de navidad, cuando celebramos el nacimiento de Cristo.  Hoy, celebramos el fin del año de 2015 y inauguramos el nuevo año de 2016.  El primer día de enero, nuestra Iglesia católica tiene la jornada mundial de oración por la paz.  Este día, el Papa Francisco anuncia un mensaje de paz al mundo. Cuando yo estaba en Roma con un grupo de jóvenes de nuestro diócesis en 2011 por la misa de María, la Madre de Dios, yo me recuerdo esta experiencia de escuchar al mensaje de paz del Papa.  Hoy, en la solemnidad de Santa María, la Madre de Dios, honramos nuestra Madre y la Madre de Jesucristo.

        En la primera lectura del Libro de los Números, escuchamos a una bendición que Dios da al pueblo de Israel.  Dice esta bendición: “El Señor te bendiga y te proteja, ilumine su rostro sobre ti y te conceda su favor; el Señor se fije en ti y te conceda la paz.” Dios expresa su fidelidad y su bondad a su pueblo con esta bendición.  La encarnación de Jesús en nuestro mundo, nacido de la Virgen María, es una bendición para todos los hombres, una bendición en la historia de salvación que tenemos en Él.  Cuando María escuchaba el mensaje divino que los pastores recibieron en el Evangelio de hoy, María conservaba este mensaje en su corazón y meditaba sobre su importancia.   Con la encarnación de Dios en el mundo, con el papel de María en la historia de salvación, Dios está con nosotros.

         En esta solemnidad de María, la Madre de Dio, podemos reconocer que la Iglesia Católica quiere comenzar el nuevo año con las oraciones y las intercesiones de la Virgen María, de su protección.  En el año 431, en el Concilio de Éfeso, en la ciudad donde la Virgen María pasaba sus últimos años después de la muerte de su hijo, había la declaración que en Jesús había una única persona, por lo que bien podía afirmarse que: “La Virgen María sí es la Madre de Dios porque su Hijo, Cristo, es Dios.”

        El título “la Madre de Dios” es el titulo principal y más importante de la Virgen María.  De este título depende todos los demás títulos que ella tiene.  En nuestra vida de fe, en nuestra piedad popular en la Iglesia Católica, María es “Madre Nuestra.”  Por esta razón, con gozo y con fe, podemos comenzar este nuevo año con la protección y el cuidado de nuestra Madre.  En esta Jornada por la Paz le pedimos, sobre todo, que María, nuestra Madre y la Madre de Dios, nos enseña los caminos y los pasos para construir un mundo donde reine la paz, una paz fruto de la justicia y de nuestra fe.  Vamos a terminar con la oración por este Día de Paz, con el tema: Vence la indiferencia y conquista la paz.

Con demasiada frecuencia, Señor, damos la espalda a los muchos

problemas del mundo, que parecen demasiado grandes, demasiado

complejos o demasiado lejanos.

Perdónanos nuestra indiferencia.

Es más fácil, Señor, ver solamente lo que nos rodea:

nuestras vidas, nuestros hogares, nuestros desafíos.

Perdónanos nuestro aislamiento.

Ayúdanos a ver con tus ojos:

ojos para fijarnos el uno en el otro

y para ayudarnos a entender.

Ayúdanos a soñar tu sueño:

de comunidades que se acercan y dialogan

y donde diversas personas cooperan creativamente.

Ayúdanos a ser personas solidarias y de acción,

tan conmovidas por la oración, el encuentro y la comprensión

que la paz pueda hacerse realidad.

Amén.

Images of Mary, Mother of Mercy

In this Year of Mercy and throughout the new year of 2016, may Mary the Mother Mercy lead us and guide us and protect us on our journey. 

Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela - leaving January 17

I saw a video interview today on Facebook in which a man was talking about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.  He said that there were three main categories of people who walk the Camino de Santiago. There are the walkers and the hikers, those who go on pilgrimage for the physical challenge.  Then there are the people of faith, those who go for spiritual reasons.  And then there are the pilgrims, those who receive the call to go on pilgrimage and they ultimately don’t know why they are there.  He said that for the pilgrims, the path does not end at Santiago – they will still be searching for something. He said that you never leave the path – once you are a pilgrim, you never stop being a pilgrim.  I definitely fall in category 2 – but I also fall in category 3 as well.  I am definitely a pilgrim on a journey.  That will never end for me.  That is why I am going back to the Camino for the fourth time.  The first time was way back in 2003 before I was a priest.  

I leave for the Camino of Santiago de Compostela on January 17 -  I am very much looking forward to going back to this holy path and to spend time with God there.  I am so grateful to have this opportunity, more grateful than my words could ever express. 

1/1/2016 – solemnity of Mary, Mother of God – Luke 2:16-21

       Think of all the different titles we have for our Mother Mary.  Some of these titles describe the different attributes that Mary has: Morning Star, Queen of the Prophets, Vessel of Honor, Queen of the Angels, and Mirror of Justice.  Some of these titles are related to different devotions and apparitions of the Blessed Mother:  Our Lady of the Pillar, Our Lady of Good Help, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Rosary, and Our Lady the Snows.   Today we celebrate and honor Mary in a special way as the Mother of God.   This is the first and most important title that we ascribe to Mary.  It describes the place Mary has in the lives of the Christian people.  It describes the loving and genuine devotion we have to our Mother.  We may think about the many ways we have honored Mary in less than a month: the Immaculate Conception on December 8, Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, Mary as the Mother of Jesus at Christmas, and now Mary the Mother of God as we celebrate the New Year.

       The famous Christian historian Jaroslav Pelikan states that Mary has been more inspiration to more people than any other woman who has ever lived.  Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the matriarch of the Kennedy family and a very devout  Catholic, reflecting upon all the tragedies she endured throughout her lifetime, once stated that she constantly found inspiration and consolation in our Blessed Mother, who never lost her faith in God or her faith in her Son even when she saw Jesus crucified and reviled.   Indeed, one of the most difficult and essential lessons that Mary teaches us through her example is her willingness to accept her suffering and to learn from it.  From the very beginning, when Mary was told of the upcoming birth of Jesus by the Angel, she opened herself up to God with the response of “yes” and she prepared herself for whatever was to come according to his will, even if she did not always understand it.  It is easy to agree to something like this, but difficult to live this out faithfully throughout one’s life.  Yet, Mary went through her sufferings and agony, remaining faithful to God.  Mary's strength and courage helps her move through the heartbreaks and struggle in her life by relying on God’s mercy and on the help and support of her family and loved ones. Through the pain of seeing her son suffer, through the agony of not understanding how her life and the life of her son unfolded, Mary took all those experiences into her heart and she pondered them.   On last Sunday’s feast of the Holy Family, with the young Jesus lost for 3 days and separated from his parents, with the message from the Angel conveyed by the shepherds to Mary in today’s Gospel, Mary took all these things into her heart and reflected on them.  Sometimes, our lives and our struggles can seem overwhelming or too burdensome.  When this happens, we are to be like Mary and reflect on them in our hearts.  I remember when I had a parishioner who had gone through the tragic death of her son, Sister Paulinus, a Sister of Mercy and a very good friend of this lady, told her that her experiences mirrored those of Mary, of how Mary grieved for her son and pondered her sorrows in her heart and maintained her faith and her love for God.

      At the beginning of this homily, I spoke about the different titles that we have for Mary.  In the Year of Mercy that we celebrate this year, I thought of the title of Mother of Mercy that is ascribed to Mary.  Mary is often depicted as the Mother of Mercy in Christian art, sheltering a group of people under her outspread cloak.  As we are called to be merciful like the Father is merciful in this Year of Mercy, it could also be said that we are to emulate the mercy of Mary as well.

       As we honor Mary today in a special way today, bringing the old year of 2015 to a close and inaugurating the new year of 2016, I would like to close our homily today with one of the great hymns that has been written about Mary. When I took a course on Mary and her role in the Church, we had to write a paper at the end of the course analyzing an aspect of Marian theology.  Our professor suggested that I choose the Marian hymn AVE MARIS STELLA (Hail Star of Sea), which was written in Latin in either the 8^th or 9^th centuries, and has often been attributed to St Bernhard of Clairvaux.  It was a particularly favorite hymn for monks to chant during the prayers of the liturgy of the hours during the Middle Ages.  Here are some of the verses of that hymn that demonstrates the love, respect, and honor the faithful of the Church have had for Mary, the Mother of God throughout the ages:

Hail, bright star of the ocean,

God's own Mother blest,

Ever sinless Virgin,

Gate of heavenly rest.

Taking that sweet Ave

Which from Gabriel came,

Peace confirm within us,

Changing Eva's name.

Break the captives' fetters,

Light on blindness pour,

All our ills expelling,

Every bliss implore.

Show thyself a Mother;

May the Word Divine,

Born for us thy Infant,

Hear our prayers through thine.

Virgin all excelling,

Mildest of the mild,

Freed from guilt, preserve us,

Pure and undefiled.

Keep our life all spotless,

Make our way secure,

Till we find in Jesus,

Joy forevermore.

Through the highest heaven

To the Almighty Three,

Father, Son and Spirit,

One same glory be. Amen.

12/31/2015 – the seventh day of the Octave of Christmas - John 1:1-18 –

        This Gospel passage may sound familiar, as it is the same Gospel reading that we heard on Christmas morning.  While Luke's very human account of Christ's birth narrative includes a visit by the angel Gabriel, a detailed account of the birth of  John the Baptist, the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, the birth of Jesus in a manger, and the visit of the shepherds to the Christ child, John’s Gospel takes a much more theological and poetic approach to Christ’s birth, focusing on Christ's divinity.  Not only is the infant in the manger truly God made flesh, but he is the true Word of God that has existed with the Father from the beginning of time and throughout all eternity. 

         Perhaps the very reason that the Gospel of John begins with the divine identity of the infant born of the Virgin Mary in the manger in Bethlehem is that Christ's identity is so significant to our own identity as believers in the faith.  Christ’s identity is integral to our very being.  The Christ child was born human, but he is also divine.

         Christ was born into our world for our salvation.  Christ became human because only a divine person could reconcile us to the Father.  Our human efforts alone cannot do this.  This reality is essential to the joy we experience at Christmastime in celebrating the birth of Christ into our hearts and into our world. 

         As we celebrate this Christmas season, let us give gratitude to God for the freely-given love he offers us in sending us his Son as our Redeemer and Savior.  Let us ask God for the gift of his grace, that we may receive his Son more fully into our lives, that our faith may be able to express itself in our lives according to God's will. 

         I remember a prisoner once asking me about the first chapter of John's Gospel that we hear today, how he had difficulty understanding its poetic language and its very different account of Jesus entrance into our world.  May we not get distracted or put off by its beautiful words.  May we appreciate the message that it brings to us today.