01/1/2012 – Mary, Mother of God – alternative homily – Luke 2:16-21

I earlier posted a homily for the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  However, as I often do, I go back, re-edit, and change things, this time really writing a brand new homily that incorporates some elements from the other homily. This is the homily I will be giving on January 1.  

Today, we celebrate Mary as the Mother of God as we welcome in the new year of 2012.  Mary is always an important part of our Catholic faith and Catholic consciousness, and even more so this time of the year.  We not only hear a lot about Mary during our Advent and Christmas celebrations in her connection to Christ’s birth, but in the past month, we also had the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec 8 and Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec 12, in addition to solemnity that we celebrate today. Even though Mary has a unique role in our history of salvation and in the story of Jesus in the Gospels, Protestants and Catholics alike often can have misconceptions about Mary’s role in our Catholic faith.  As a priest, when people ask me about our Catholic faith, especially when I go visit the inmates in prison, many of the questions often revolve around Mary and her role in our faith.  So, I thought I would structure my homily around some questions we are often asked about Mary.  

To begin with, we might ask ourselves: Why exactly would we celebrate a solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God?  This title does not come directly from Scripture, but it evolved in the early Church and was defined as a dogma of our Catholic faith at the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. It is important to note that Mary was defined as “the Mother of God” rather than “the Mother of Jesus” because it was a part of the discussion the early Church fathers had about the divinity and humanity of Jesus.  The Church did not want to give the impression that his divinity and humanity are two independent components of his being. By referring to Mary as the Mother of God, the Church confirms that Jesus is one person that is at the same time fully human and fully divine.  And through the title “Mother of God” we come to a deeper understand of Jesus, since it is always important for us to remember that Mary does not direct honor and glory to herself, but rather Mary’s role in our faith is to always point us in the direction of Jesus, to help us in our journey of discipleship in him.

One of my favorite Catholic writers, the Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, tells this amusing story.  There once was an elderly man who came to the shrine of Mary, Mother of God to pray there each day.  Jesus himself heard the prayers of this devout believer, and wanted to show him a sign that blessings would certainly come to him.  So, Jesus as the Christ child appear to this man right above the altar of this beautiful shrine in place of the statue of Mary that was normally there.  Seeing the Christ child in front of him instead of Mary, the old man was irritated, and cried out: “Go away, little boy.  I am here to talk to your mama.”  This illustrates the devotion that we Catholics traditionally have to Mary, how we can so naturally relate to the motherly love, how we see her not only as Jesus’ mother, the Mother of God, but our mother, the mother of our Church.  So we might ask: Is it ok to pray to Mary?  I think a better way to describe it is to say that we pray through Mary and with Mary.  We don’t worship Mary as God, we don’t see her as an equal to God, but rather as an intercessor who prayers for us and with us, who strengthens our faith and who nurtures us with her motherly love. 

So, how to we see Mary today’s as modern Catholics?  How do we see her as a model of faith for us today?  Mary has always been a part of our faith story, our faith history, but she has been seen and interpreted in different ways as our Catholic faith has developed throughout our human history.  At times, she has been held up as a model of a believer who was docile and passive, submissive and unquestioning.  Yet, even in today's short Gospel passage, as we hear how the shepherds visit Mary and Jesus in the manger, how Mary pondered all that she heard from the shepherds in her heart, we hear how Mary takes a very proactive, strong deeply spiritual way.  She does not follow blindly, but thinks, reflects, ponders, meditates, and makes up her own mind.  While she is formed by her faith traditions and is part of ancient Jewish society, Mary made the decision to accept God’s will for her in her life.  We can recognize that through her courage and strength of character, she truly becomes Christ’s first disciple. 

As someone who came to the Catholic faith as an adult, I can honestly say that Mary has played a major role in helping me grow in my Catholic faith and in bringing me to the Church.  Today, as we welcome in the new year of 2012, as we celebrate the day where we pray for peace throughout our world, as we honor Mary as the Mother of God, let us ask Mary for her prayers and intercessions, to help us, to guide us, to be with us as we journey in faith.  

01/01/2012 – Homily - Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God – Luke 2:16-21

         Today, we celebrate the wonderful solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God on the first day of the new year of 2012.  And it is quite a treat for us to celebrate this special day on a Sunday, which doesn’t happen very often in our Church’s liturgical calendar.    In today's Gospel, we hear how the shepherds visit Mary and Jesus in the manger, how Mary pondered all that she heard from the shepherds in her heart. Through this reading, we see a very human side of Mary.  However, as we celebrate Mary in a special way today, we might ask ourselves a question about something we as Catholics might take for granted:  Why do we call Mary the “Mother of God”? Even though this title does not come directly from the Scriptures, it was commonly used to describe Mary long before it was defined as a dogma of our Catholic faith at the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. 

         There was considerable debate in the early Church about the nature of Christ, about whether he was both fully human and fully divine.  At the center of this discussion was a title ascribed to Mary, because since the early third century, some followers of Jesus gave Mary the title of “Theotokos,” or God-bearer. I was very fortunate for having had an entire course in the seminary on the Virgin Mary, taught by Father Marcello Neri, a Sacred Heart priest from Italy.  He emphasized again and again that any title given to Mary is not given to just glorify her or to tell us only something about her, but Mary and her titles ultimately point us to Jesus, her Son, and tell us something about him or about our redemption & salvation that comes through him. 

         So, why is it important for us to call Mary “the Mother of God,” rather than to simply refer to her as the Mother of Jesus?  In an important way, the Church insists on the title “Mother of God” for Mary so as to not to divide or separate Jesus’ divinity from his humanity; the Church does not want to give the impression that divinity & humanity are two separate & independent parts of Jesus.  By referring to Mary as the Mother of God, the Church confirms that Jesus is one person that is fully human and fully divine. 

         Just as we refuse to separate the humanity of Jesus from his divinity, we lay the foundation that we refuse to separate Jesus from the body of the Church, for as the Church, we are truly the Body of Christ.  The divine work of Jesus is an integral and essential part of the human work of the Church; the two cannot be separated.  Jesus shares his divine life with the members of his Church, as he also shares in our human lives.  In the Church, Jesus lives and works, as we as members of the Church live & work in Jesus.  As we give Mary the title “Mother of God,” it helps us to understand the mystery that we are proclaiming when we say that as the Church we are the body of Christ. And as we receive the Eucharist today, as the priest & the Eucharistic ministers distribute the host and pronounce that this is the Body of Christ, we not only declare the host as the body of Christ, but we also declare that the person receiving the Eucharist is the body of Christ as a member of Christ’s Church.  When we think of it in these terms, what a profound theological statement we make each time we gather around the Lord’s Table to celebrate the Eucharist to receive the Body of Christ as the Body of Christ.

         Mary is the Mother of God, she is our mother, and she is the mother of the Church.   As our mother, as our intercessor, as the first disciple, Mary brings us ever closer to her Son.  As we honor Mary today as the Mother of God, we honor her son, we honor the way God is working in her.