Homily; January 1 - Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God

Last April, I had the good fortune to make a pilgrimage to Rome with members of  St. Columbkille, in parma, my previous parish assignment.  We were able to visit the great basilicas of St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Pauls, and St. Mary Major. 

Below the main altar of St. Mary Major are the relics of the manger of Bethlehem, the crib which held the newborn Savior of the world, placed there by his mother Mary. 

Just a few weeks before my visit to St. Mary Major, the new holy Father, Pope Francis, visited St. Mary Major, the very next day after his election to the chair of St. Peter.  There at the beginning of his pontificate, he prayed before the crib of Christ, praying for God’s blessing and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for his pontificate and for the world. 

We begin the new year, in the same manner, at the crib of Christ and with Mother Mary, asking God’s blessing upon the new year, asking God’s grace for our families and nation.

Pope Francis has visited that holy crib a couple times already in his months as Pope.  After praying the rosary, Pope Francis said, “A mother helps her children to grow and wants them to grow well; Our Lady does the same thing in us, she helps us to grow as human beings and in the faith, to be strong and not to give in to the temptation to be human and Christian in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, to aim ever higher.”  Our mother Mary, prays for us, and helps us to be the Christians God made us to be.  For she is truly our mother, and loves us with a mother’s care.

One of the other highlights from my pilgrimage last April was a visit to the catacombs of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria. When Christians were still persecuted under the Roman Emperors, they would gather in the catacombs to celebrate Mass and to share their faith.  And, just like we have stained glass windows to remind us of the important figures in our faith, the early Christians painted frescoes on the walls of the catacombs.

There in the catacomb of St. Priscilla is the oldest known representation of Mary, Mother of God.   She is depicted seated, with the infant Jesus at her breast.  Next to her, stands a man pointing upwards to a star, the Christmas star, to show that this infant is the long awaited Messiah.  The fresco evidences that, from the very beginning, the Church has looked to the Mother of Jesus with honor and devotion.  The turned to Mary’s example and her prayers to help them in to be faithful Christians in their persecution, in their hardship.

When we became Christians, we start out as babies.  Just as babies must be taught to talk, walk, eat, and clothe themselves, so also baby Christians must be taught to talk as a Christian, walk as a Christian, think, feel, and act like Christ.  Mary nurtured and taught the Christ child, and she will nurture and teach us, if and when we turn to her.  She will teach us how to put God first in our lives, how to serve him, how to be healed by him, how to be saved by him, that his peace and joy and strength may be ours.

In the Gospel today, St. Luke tells us, that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart”.  Here is the secret to Mary’s peace and joy.  She pondered her saving God in her heart, all throughout her life, throughout the day, as she prepared the meals, throughout the day as she washed the clothes of the Holy Family, throughout the day, as she perhaps picked grain in the field for her families meals, throughout the years as her baby son grew into a boy, then into a man, as her chaste spouse Joseph, grew into an old man, she pondered her God, kept him in her heart, when Jesus began his public ministry, when he was rejected by his own townspeople, when he was arrested, spit upon, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified, pierced, taken off the cross, she kept God in her heart, she stood and magnified the Lord.

Yesterday, on his Twitter account, Pope Francis said, Let us draw from the crib the joy and deep peace that Jesus comes to bring to the world. 

As Mary pondered and reflected in her heart the crib of Christ, may we like her ponder the saving event of the birth of Christ in our hearts, that we may be faithful to God as she, with complete surrender to God’s most holy will, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.