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 8th or 9th 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.
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