Homily: January 1 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - "You are my mother now"

In 1929, just 17 days short of his 9th birthday, the young Karol Wojtyla — the future Blessed Pope John Paul II — entered his house during the afternoon. His parents were very pious, and young Karol was accustomed to see his father — a strong soldier in the Polish army — praying on his knees on their parlor’s hardwood floor. That day, when the young Karol saw his father praying, he saw his dad’s knees bathing in a pool of tears.

“What’s wrong, Papa” the young future Pope asked his father. “Karol, your mother has died!” was his father’s answer. His mother had Emilia died in childbirth.

The eight year old ran out of his home to the local parish Church, which was actually right across the street from the Wojtyla apartment home. He entered the Church and ran up the aisle of the Church to a kneeler in front of a statue of Mary.  Tearfully, he said to her: “Blessed Lady, I don’t know why God took my mother home at the time he did. But I do know one thing: YOU are my mother now!”

“You are my mother now!” Today we celebrate the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. At the beginning of the civil year, when we ponder what time will bring in the upcoming year, the Church reminds us very strongly of what happened at the fullness of time. “When the fullness of time had come,” we hear in today’s second reading, “God sent his Son, born of a woman.”
“You are my mother now!” Those words would first have been said by Jesus.  This is an incredible mystery, that Mary would be the mother incarnate second person of the Blessed Trinity—she would be the mother of the One through whom all things, including her own soul, were made.  She bore God in her womb and gave birth to the God-man, and can therefore be called Mother of God.  We profess this belief every time we pray the Hail Mary:  “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners”

“You are my mother now!” Those words could have also been spoken by Saint John the Apostle.  For from the Cross, Jesus said to his beloved disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home”.  And so, in making Mary the mother of the beloved disciple, Jesus gave Mary as mother of the whole church.  We know that Mary had an important role in the life of the early Church, the disciples gathered around her in prayer in the upper room at Pentecost.

Mary is the mother of the family Jesus established through his passion, death, and resurrection.  Jesus wanted his disciples — he wanted us — to have his Mother as our own so that she could raise us to be like her Son.  So at our Baptism, we could say along with Saint John and along with Jesus himself, “You are my mother now!”

Jesus says to each of us, “Behold your mother!” He wants and hopes that each of us will do what his first beloved disciple wisely did, and take Mary into our home, into our lives.

Blessed Pope John Paul’s devotion to the Blessed Mother deeply impacted his life, his priesthood, and his papacy.  When he was made bishop of Krakow, he took as his episcopal motto the words: Totus Tuus ego sum, which is latin for “I am completely yours.”  The motto “Totus tuus” was taken from a prayer by Saint Louis Marie de Montfordt: "Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria." "I am completely yours, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart"

In giving one’s self to Mary you can trust that she will always lead you to Jesus.  In our sinfulness, Mary leads us to Christ’s mercy.  In our sorrows and sufferings, Mary leads us to the sweet comfort of her son.  In our joys, Mary leads us to magnify God.  When we turn to Mary in prayer, she leads us deeper into the mystery of God.  She helps us to overcome our vices and our selfishness.

In the Gospel we heard how as soon as the angels had revealed the Christ Child’s birth the shepherds went in haste to the manger.  In a similar way, Mary, on receiving the angel’s message about her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy went, “in haste” to help her.

Our mother comes in haste to our aid when we call upon her.  And she will always help us to be free from all that keeps us from loving her son as we should—to make haste in serving God’s kingdom.

We do well, as the song goes, to invoke the sweet name of Mary, our mother often throughout the day, in flying to her protection, imploring her help, and seeking her intercession for the glory of God and salvation of souls.