BORN TO BEAR GOD.

January 1, 2024.
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

Readings: Nm 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk2:16-21.

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…” (Gal 4:4)

A Nigerian proverb says: “A child who has no mother will not have scars to show on his back.” A Namibian proverb adds: “A mother is always a mother.”

Mother of God. There is no Marian title greater and beautiful than this. All we celebrate and recall about Mary, all our Marian devotions find their meaning here, because she bore the Son of God.

Mary is the Mediatrix of all grace because she is the Mother of God. Mary is the Lady of Perpetual Help because she is Mother of God. Mary is the Mother of Divine Providence simply because she is the Mother of God. And more especially, we obtain everything we ask of the Lord through Mary because she is his Mother.

At the wedding of Cana, when there was no more wine, Mary seized the need of the master of the feast and reported it to her Son, “They have no wine.” Through this sentence, mediation to her Son, and her feedback to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you,” Jesus performed his first miracle. She was able to do this meditation between Jesus and the master of the banquet because, Jean mentioned, she is the "Mother of Jesus". (Jn 2:1-11)

We are celebrating today, January 1, a Solemnity that opens us to a New Year and must give a Marian color of our year, the THEOTOKOS. The Catechism says: "Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord". In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos)." CCC 495 It is the feast of Mary’s Divine Motherhood. It is also a call for us to make Mary our Mother too.

Her is the mystery explained in this Marian hymn: "The angel Gabriel announced to Mary she would be God’s Mother you see. And God was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Hail Mary Mother of God Lady in Blue, I love you. Hail Mary, Mother of God. Mary is my Mother too." Because she became Mother of God, Mary is called to become your mother and my mother. She is our Heavenly Mother.

While celebrating such a great and blessed Mother, the readings, at the start of this New Year open with a blessing. The Lord, instructs Moses on how the presbyters should bless his people: “Say to them: 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!” We address these blessings to you and your family and pray that you too should become a blessing and an instrument of peace, harmony, and happiness to all the people you will meet and interact with the whole of this year, just as Jesus, the Son of Mary became our blessing. As St. Paul says to the Galatians, he is born of a woman, born in time and for all ages so that, through him and with him, we should be made able to address God, calling him, “Abba, Father!”

Jesus is truly a blessing to our humanity. And because he entered and embodied that human nature through Mary, she also became a blessing and a channel of God’s blessed and merciful love to all who recourse to her patronage and her motherly love. There is no better way we can find Jesus except through Mary and under her maternal mantle. In the Gospel, we read that, when the shepherds received the announcement from the Angels, they “went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” This tells us that Jesus is always where Mary is and Mary leads us to Him.

The ”Ad Jesum per Mariam” emphasizes that the cult of Mary, when well implemented, leads to the worship of God. We do not worship Mary as many sects accuse us of. We do not make Mary an idol. We offer her our devotional and children's love because God the Most High was pleased to make her his dwelling place. For nine months, he became inseparably one with her. He lived in her womb and made her the ever-first human God-bearer. We, therefore, honor Our Lady with Jesus in our hearts.

St. Luigi Orione our Fonder made it a calling and an urgency: “Let us love Mary!” He said to his spiritual children, the Sons of Divine Providence: “Oh! We can say that the Little Work of Divine Providence is, after God, wholly the work of Mary. It arose because of Mary; it grew because of Mary; it continues because of Mary. We owe everything to Mary and must therefore be devoted to her and demonstrate our gratitude to her. Devotion to Mary is not merely an ornament of our most holy Religion, nor a flowery adjunct to it, nor a means of assistance like so many others of which we can make use or not as we wish. It is an integral part. God does not want to come to us except through Mary; we cannot go to God except through Mary.”

May this be a challenge for you and me the whole of this year, to become truly children of Mary, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and brothers and sisters for each other. Happy New Year to you all. And let’s always go to Jesus through Mary.