Holy Family 2025 - Example and Virtues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

 Shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, sixty years ago, in order to continue the spirit of engagement of the Church in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI established what is called the Synod of Bishops. The Pope wanted Bishops from around the world to continue to meet periodically to discuss and provide him counsel regarding questions and important matters facing the Church.

Prior to his passing, Pope Francis called for a Synod on Synodailty. Kind of abstract, but he wanted the bishops to help him reflect upon what it means for the Church to be constantly examining her mission in light of the new challenges and changes in society.

10 years ago, Pope Francis called another synod discuss an issue deeply important to the Church: the pastoral care and promotion of marriage and families.  

It wasn’t the first synod on the family. Pope St. John Paul II called a synod on the family back in 1980, after which he issued his great post-synodal apostolic exhortation called, Familiaris Consortio. Listen to the Pope’s insightful words:

“The family in the modern world”, wrote Pope John Paul, “as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life.”

In other words, from the Pope’s perspective, there are those families who understand to build their families on the teachings of Jesus,  like so many of you. Then, there are those who are confused about what that means. And, then there are those who are clueless about the importance of building one’s family on Christ. And the Church has a mission to each of these types of families—to all families, and each of us should consider how we are called to help each of these types of families. 

Fast forward to 2015. Pope Francis calls another synod on the family, he listens to bishops, and not just to bishops but he also gathers a number of ordinary families, like yours gain insight about their struggles, and he compiled all of these thoughts, plus his own, into the post-synodal apostolic exhortation called Amoris Laetitia. And in this document, Pope Francis enumerated a number of challenges facing families today. 

He mentioned materialism. Materialism, the love of stuff, seeking meaning and purpose in stuff, keeps families from fulfilling their mission, loving God, loving each other and spreading the Gospel as they should. He mentioned narcissism. “Narcissism”, he said, “makes people incapable of looking beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and needs.” Narcissism within families can be a tremendous source of dysfunction. 

He spoke of the cultural ideologies that devalue marriage and family and the fear that some young people have of entering into such a commitment. He mentioned the false notion of overpopulation fueled by world politics which leads to a mentality against having children. He spoke of “spread of pornography and the commercialization of the body, fostered also by a misuse of the internet,” and of course, “the weakening of faith and religious practice” which has had disastrous consequences for society. 

Today is the Christmas Feast of the Holy Family, a feast instituted only in the 1920s, but a feast vital for our time, in which we ask God to help us amidst all of these cultural and interpersonal challenges to imitate the example and virtues of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Gospel today we read of Joseph listening to the voice of an angel guiding him to protect his family from the evils of his time: the murderous plot of King Herod. So, meditating on their example and virtues of the Holy Family is so vital in helping us to act rightly amidst the evils of our own day. 

The first evil Pope Francis mentioned was materialism. Where society values materialism, we see the Holy Family practicing holy poverty. The Christ child was born in the straw poverty of the Bethlehem stable. At his presentation, the family could only offer the oblation of the poor—two turtle doves. When Joseph received word from the Angel regarding the murderous intent of King Herod, the poor family took refuge in the foreign land of Egypt. 

They were poor, but they humbly trusted in God and treasured the things of God. Together, they embodied the first of the beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” placing their trust and confidence in God rather than trusting material possessions and earthly power to bring them happiness. 

Secondly, where society values narcissism, we see the Holy Family practicing selflessness. Scripture portrays their sweet and Holy Charity. We read of Our Lady going in haste to help her elderly cousin Elizabeth, and Our Lady at the wedding at Cana shows holy attentiveness to the needs of the newly married couple. St. Joseph looks to the needs of Mary and Jesus, as the great guardian of the holy family, protecting them from Herod’s murderous plots, providing for them through years of labor and sweat. Charity towards each other and toward their neighbor filled their lives, so too must it be for us.

Thirdly, the purity, chastity and self-control of the Holy Family stands in contrast to the perversion, indulgence, decadence, and other habits of instant gratification of our modern society. In their purity and chastity, the Holy Family fulfilled another one of the Lord’s Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” They remind us of the need to guard our eyes and our minds from those evils which keep us from seeing God. 

Fourthly, we see in many countries, including our own, a sharp decline in religious practice and fulfillment of religious obligations among families. The Holy Family shows us the importance of fulling our religious duties. The Holy Family was accustomed to making the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. And even though it required sacrifice and effort to make that pilgrimage, they were faithful. And their fulfillment of this obligation was not without drama, as it is for many families. But they were faithful. They remind us to be faithful, too.

In the holy family we see the remedy for many of the evils that beset us, but also we see the power of holy families. God chose to enter the world as Savior, through a family. So too God wants to use the holy families of our Church NOW. The world needs holy families—the holy families of our parish—to be open to being used by God in so many ways, but primarily to lead others to heaven, to Christ. Holy families are a powerful evangelical instrument God uses to draw souls to Himself.

As we continue this Christmas season, allow the Holy Family to help your family love and trust God in all of your family activities, to value the things of heaven over the things of earth by imitating their poverty, to practice purity and chastity, to show the world the importance of right religion by seeking first the kingdom of God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 25 2025 - Christmas - Save us from slop

 Merry Christmas every one.

Since 2003, every year Mirriam-Webster dictionary has declared a Word of the Year. Typically, the Words of the Year reflect cultural events from the year prior.

For example, the Word of the Year in 2008 was “bailout” due to the government’s role that year of bailing out banks and financial institutions due to the 2008 financial crisis. In 2004, the Word of the Year was “blog”—a new concept at the time—where writers would post a log of activities or thoughts on the world-wide-web—a web-log, a blog. In 2020, the word was “pandemic”. And in 2022, the word was “gaslighting” due to a growing sense in society that we might not be getting the whole truth about world affairs.

This year, Mirriam-Webster declared that the Word of the Year is “slop”.  “Slop” is defined as “the constant flow of digital content of low quality that is usually produced by means of artificial intelligence.”

“AI Slop is Everywhere,” warned The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. The internet, but also, our culture in general seems to be filling-up with machine-made junk-content that’s cheap, endless, and hard to escape.

And it’s not just media content, is it? Everything seems cheap lately. Companies are cutting corners; products don’t seem to be “made-to-last” as they used to. Everything seems to be low-effort, artificial and lacking deep meaning.

We’ve been experiencing cultural decline for several decades now, but this flood of slop in the last year or two is deeply concerning as it seems like it slop and sloppiness has infected just about everything from government and the education system, to our food, our architecture, our music, even our human relationships—low-effort, artificial, lacking deep-meaning.

Why do I bring up this idea of slop on this most holy Christmas evening? Because to us is born a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the one who is the remedy for the infection of slop. Again, that infection is not simply technological, economic, or cultural. Those are symptoms. The deeper illness is spiritual. What we are experiencing as slop—the cheapening of truth, beauty, work, and even love—is the fruit of the human heart wounded by sin.

From the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, Sin always involves lowering our standards—seeking less than what we were made for. Instead of striving for what is true, good, and beautiful, we sin seeks what is easy, convenient, and artificial. Instead of meaning, we accept distraction. Instead of communion, we accept consumerism to make us happy.

Yet, into this world marked by corruption, the Savior was born. Not in power and spectacle, but in poverty and silence. To save us from sin, God did not send a lecture, or a policy, or a technological fix. He took on our very flesh to redeem us. The eternal Son of God enters our broken human condition from the inside. He does not stand at a distance diagnosing our sickness; He takes it upon Himself, and becomes our remedy. This is what the name Jesus means: “God saves.” He comes not merely to inform us and to inspire us, but to restore us and redeem us.

Where sin trains us to settle, Christ reawakens our desire for wholeness and holiness once again, by reorienting us to God.

And we might be surprised to learn that God desires our wholeness and healing even more than we do. The Incarnation is God’s refusal to let humanity remain degraded. In the Child of Bethlehem, God declares that human life is worth saving, human nature is worth redeeming. Humanity is not cheap and artificial, it is worth saving. It is worth dying for.

And that is why Christmas matters so much. Christmas is not about presents and recreating nostalgic feelings. It’s about allowing God to reorder our lives to what is most important, allowing God to heal us from the root of our being. God wants to save precisely those parts of us that settle for artificial substitutes for the meaning and life that comes from Him.

Those of you who only come to church once or twice a year, might wonder, why every year at Christmas, the priest invites you to come to church more often. It’s because God loves you and wants more for you than artificial substitutes and a superficial relationship. True meaningful purpose is not found on the outskirts of the Church, but by drawing as near to Christ as you possibly can, by practicing our religion as fervently as you can.

Artificial intelligence cannot save this world. Nor can politics or economics, or some lazy amalgamation of religious ideas. Salvation cannot be found in an idea or technology, but in the person of Jesus Christ who founded a Church and died for our sins and wants a profound relationship with each one of us.

As we heard in our second reading from Paul to Titus: “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age…to make us eager for what is good”

That is the alternative to slop. Learning again how to honestly and authentically seek what is truly good for us.

Christ is born to enable us to live as fully human beings again: men and women who seek truth instead of convenience, beauty instead of novelty, communion instead of consumption, and holiness instead of distraction.

If you feel exhausted and unhappy, disillusioned, or unsatisfied—if you sense that much of what the world offers feels hollow and thin: that restlessness is a sign that you were made for more. And A Savior has been born for you. A remedy has been given. Seek him wholeheartedly, love him profoundly.

May the peace of the newborn King—who alone can save—fill your hearts and your homes this Christmas for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

December 23 2025 - He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children...

 

This last full day of Advent, we read from the very last verses of the very last book of the Old Testament. The book of Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and in our bibles, Malachi is the very last book before the New Testament.

Like Isaiah and Jeremiah before him, Malachi foretold how a Savior would come to redeem us and usher in the kingdom of God’s peace. In today’s passage we read Malachi’s prophecy of the events that would occur just prior to the arrival of the Messiah.

There would be a forerunner to prepare his way—a messenger to point out to God’s people that the Messiah is coming soon. And in the Gospel, we read about the birth of the forerunner, John, who would preach from the banks of the Jordan, calling Israel to repent, to prepare their hearts for the imminent arrival of the Savior who will restore and heal Israel, and bring justice.

And then the very last thing Malachi says, the very last verse of the Old Testament, is a prophecy about family: “He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons, and the heart of sons to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.”

The peace and restoration and justice the Messiah will bring will involve the restoration of families. The Messiah will restore the brokenness in the human family, and he will enable families to fulfill the vocation established by the Creator. Malachi is also clear that there are consequences when that order is rejected: “the land will be struck with utter destruction.”

Pope St. John Paul echoed Malachi’s prophecy when he gave his famous quote on the family. He said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” In other words, the quality of familial relationships directly impacts the well-being and future of nations and subsequently, the entire global community. Families are the building blocks of society; they are where values, traditions, and beliefs are instilled in individuals from their earliest days

Within the family children are to learn important virtues of love, respect, forgiveness, and diligence, which are crucial for fostering a peaceful society. While most, if not all of our cultural ills, can be traced to the breakdown of the family—to the many distortions of the order designed by the Creator. Family sins like abandonment, neglect, selfishness, violence, godlessness have ripple effects in the lives of children and society.

During Christmas time many families will come together. It is often clear when Christ is at the center of family life and when he is not. Whatever our family life is like, chaotic and dysfunctional, or blessedly peaceful and joy filled, we pray that we may do our part in contributing to the health and salvation of family life by bearing the peace, goodness, and love of the one born for us at Christmas, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 - - - - 

As we stand on the threshold of Christmas, awaiting the coming of the Savior who restores all things, let us place our prayers before the Father.

That Christmas may find us bearing the peace, goodness, and love of Christ in our homes and relationships.

For society and its leaders, that respect for the family as designed by the Creator may be renewed, and that public life may be guided by policies and decisions that protect and strengthen family life.

For those from broken or wounded families That Christ, born into the human family, may bring healing, consolation, and hope to all who suffer from abandonment, neglect, violence, or division.

For the faithful departed, that they may share in the eternal peace of God’s kingdom.

For the petitions in our heart and for…

Father of mercy, You sent Your Son to restore what sin has broken and to reconcile the human family to Yourself. Hear these prayers and prepare our hearts to receive Christ with faith and love. Through Christ our Lord.

December 17 2025 (school mass) - O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

 

Today, December 17, begins the last stretch of Advent before Christmas—what is called late Advent.

And beginning today until Christmas Eve, as you heard just before the Gospel, the Church sings these beautiful musical phrases called the O Antiphons. Today, I first sang the verse in Latin then in English because the O Antiphons were first written in Latin, 1500 years ago—in the sixth century. Before America was discovered—before English was even a language spoken by human beings—the Church was singing these beautiful O Antiphons in latin in preparation for the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

In each of these O Antiphons, the Church asks God for special help—help to prepare well for Christmas. Today, the O Antiphon asked God for Wisdom. O Sapientia, Sapientia is the latin word for Wisdom. I sang O Wisdom which comes forth from the mouth of God, help us to order our days rightly and prudently.

What is wisdom? What does it mean to be wise? Wisdom helps us to get our life in order—the right order. Particularly during these 8 days before Christmas, we want to make sure our life is rightly ordered—that we are not being foolish with the time we’ve been given. And wisdom does just that—wisdom helps us to know what matters most.

Wisdom isn’t just about being smart and knowing a lot of things. Your mind might be filled with a million facts about science and technology and sports and literature and art and music. But just because you know a lot of things doesn’t make that you make good choices. We need the wisdom, the instruction that comes from God, to make good choices that help our souls grow in holiness.

And right at the beginning of Late Advent the Church turns to God, and asks God, God grant us wisdom, that we might use the time we’ve been given to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas. Help us to be prudent with our time and our abilities to prepare well for Christmas.

In the Gospel today, we heard the long genealogy, the long family tree of Jesus stretching all the way back to the beginning of the people of Israel with Abraham, through King David, and finally to Joseph the husband of Mary. From all time, God had been ordering the generations of the human family to prepare for the birth of His Son. And if he can do that, he can certainly help us order our lives to get ready for Christmas.

To wisely prepare for Christmas, we need to think about Jesus every day, we need to pray every day, we need to make sure that evil and selfishness are not taking root in us, and make sure that we are practicing the kindness, gentleness, patience, and generosity we are capable of.

By practicing wisdom, we come to recognize that Christmas isn’t just about getting presents, but about celebrating the birth of Jesus who came to save us, reconcile us to God and grow in union with God, who enables us to be the people God made us to be, wise and prudent, good and holy for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

3rd Sunday of Advent 2025 - Joy in stillness

On the first Sunday of Advent, our Scripture readings urged us to be mindful of the need to prepare well during this holy season. On the Second Sunday, last week, we heard John the Baptist urge us to repent—to prepare for the Lord’s coming by turning away from our sins, detaching from worldly distractions, and making straight the pathways in our lives for God.

On this third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday—we are presented with images of joy—the joyful exultation of Israel as God’s promises are fulfilled, and the Lord pointing to the example of John the Baptist, who leapt for joy in his mother’s womb at the drawing near of the savior. Jesus sends John’s disciples to tell the good news to John, now in prison, that the signs of the Messiah’s coming were now being fulfilled by Jesus. Even in prison, this would have brough John joy.

Joy, it is the deep longing of the human heart. Each one of us longs for joy. No one ever complained about having too much joy in their lives. Rather, the opposite is true, we tire of the joyless, and often jump from one pursuit to the next looking for that elusive joy. 

The brilliant Christian author, C.S. Lewis well-known for his “Chronicles of Narnia” books like “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” also wrote a sort of spiritual autobiography, in which he details his conversion to Christianity from Atheism—a book titled “Surprised by Joy”. In it, Lewis describes how every human being who has ever existed desires joy—we crave it; each of us are on an eternal quest for lasting joy.  Yet, joy, Lewis admits, is the most elusive of the virtues: we are all searching for it, but few seem to find enduring joy.  The authentically and fully joyful person is rare.  

Lewis explains that joy is often so elusive and hard to find because so many people are looking for joy “out there”—as if joy can be acquired if I just obtain the right object, or the right amount of cash in my bank account, in some earthly thing or activity or set of circumstances 

This is why our culture always seems so exhausted once Christmas is over. Our consumeristic, materialistic culture is convinced that joy can be purchased and found in material things like playstations, iphones, televisions, new wardrobes, and the like.

Lewis writes, “No, “Joy does not come from out there,” Lewis says, rather “Joy comes from in here.”  Joy comes into the heart when we are in right relationship with God—joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Only when the heart is firmly planted in Christ and doing the works of Christ, will the fruit of joy truly bloom.

Joy is most elusive, but there are a group of people who have discovered Joy. The saints! If you’ve ever met a truly holy person, they are filled with joy. The saints show us that joy is truly found in the Lord. They sing along with Psalm 16: “[Lord] you make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy.”

The saints also show us what is required to tend the soil of one’s heart so that joy may bloom. In the saints, we see that joy is cultivated primarily in two ways. 

Firstly, why are the saints so joyful? Because they have learned to live for others. They show us that joy is cultivated not through selfish accumulation, but by giving oneself away in service. Joy is not found in stuffing yourself to the gills day after day, but in feeding the hungry. Joy is not found with meticulously assembling the perfect wardrobe by keep up with the newest fashions, but by clothing the naked. Joy is not found in mindlessly doom scrolling on your phone and trying to convince people that you have the perfect life on social media, but disciplining and structuring your life around intentional generosity and self-sacrifice. They show us that the way of Christ—putting the teachings of Christ in practice, particularly those lessons of charity—is the pathway to joy.

So, firstly, the saints cultivate joy through self-sacrificial good works. Secondly, they show us the indispensability of prayer. And when I say prayer, I’m not just talking about rattling off an our father or hail mary once a day if you remember to do so, or saying grace before meals. Those prayers are important, however, the prayer of the saints is practice by quieting the mind and the soul, seeking God in the stillness of one’s soul. The saints practice prayer to such an extent that they learn to encounter the living God who makes His dwelling in the soul of the baptized. Prayer, for the saints becomes a living fountain of joy. 

This week in OCIA we talked about one of the great teachers of prayer, St. Theresa of Avila, the great Carmelite mystic and one of the four female doctors of the Church. Doctor, by the way, doesn’t mean that she was a medical doctor. The word ‘doctor’ means learned one—someone with something to teach. And the doctors of the Church are the ones learned in the faith and the spiritual life. St. Theresa of Avila is a doctor of the Church because what she has to teach us about prayer.

The doctor of prayer, St. Theresa wrote extensively on prayer and the spiritual life. Her masterpiece on prayer, called “The Interior Castle” was written for those who want to make serious progress in the spiritual life and the practice of prayer. Though it was written over 500 years ago, the language is easy to understand and quite accessible—you should check it out.

Throughout the chapters of her book, Theresa describes how the human soul is like a mansion. And as we enter deeper and deeper into the mansion of the soul, we come experience a purer and purer encounter with God. The journey through the inner mansion of the soul is transformative; we are changed as we grow nearer to God—we grow in joy, in purity of love and intension, detachment from sin, we grow in simplicity, and willingness to suffer for the sake of others. Growth in prayer, growth in holiness, brings growth in joy, as we grow nearer and nearer to God—the source of all joy.

The season of Advent, especially today, Gaudete Sunday, has this character, of seeking to enter more deeply into communion with God, seeking the joy and fullness of life that only He can bring, the joy that the soul longs for.

Throughout her writing, Theresa repeatedly emphasizes that it is not only we who long for God, but God who longs for us, and God desires union with each one of us. And that union doesn’t just begin when our earthly life comes to an end, Yes, we are meant for union with God in eternity, but that experience and growth in communion with God is to start now, in this earthly life—again through prayer, and the life of charity.

We will be happier, more joyful and fulfilled, when we make the inner journey, stripping away all that keeps us from that encounter with Christ, who draws near to us, and makes his dwelling among us, in our very souls. Gaudete in domino semper, rejoice in the Lord always. Dominus enim prope est. Indeed, the Lord is near. 

A week and a half now before Christmas, let us make good use of the time we have been given, to draw near to the Lord who has drawn near to us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Advent 2025 - Wednesday - God's promise of renewal

In the first reading, God promises strength for his people. Isaiah says, “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings: They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”

To Isaiah’s original audience, this promise was not a vague spiritual encouragement. It was a concrete proclamation spoken into one of the darkest chapters of Israel’s history. Recall that this promise was being given to a people exiled in Babylon. The Jews had lost their land, lost their Temple, lost their monarchy, lost their identity as a nation, and wondered if God had abandoned them. They were a defeated people with no political leverage and no military strength. They experienced the exhaustion of futile existence and defeat.

But to these people, God assured them: I will restore you, I will rejuvenate you. Your defeat will not get the final word. Hope in the Lord, he will come for you. God remains faithful despite appearances. 

Throughout Advent, we read these promises from Isaiah to understand the spiritual state of humanity awaiting the savior. Israel’s exile was the consequence of their persistent unfaithfulness—idolatry, injustice, hard-heartedness. The loss of the Temple, the land, the kingship, and the city was not just political—it was identity-shattering.

The promises of Isaiah are not just significant for historical Israel, but for all of humanity. God would restore what was lost through sin, he would restore dignity, identity, mission, renewing the human heart enabling us to become the people God made us to be. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus identifies himself as the one who brings the strength and rejuvenation Israel and all of humanity longed for. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Rest. Rejuvenation. New strength. Renewal. Jesus is the answer to humanities longing. He is the font of new life.

We know how the burdens of life and the demands of mission of the Gospel can be quite demanding and exhausting. Raising a family in the faith, being faithful to the demands of our particular vocation, caring for the poor in all the ways God is calling us, fighting against temptation and worldly distraction. Sharing the Gospel to a world that mocks us, hates us, persecutes us. The Christian pilgrimage can be exhausting.

But during Advent, we are to take the time to renew our hope and trust in the Lord, quieting down, turning away from worldly distraction, so that we can be rejuvenated, strengthened when the Lord comes. 

The Christian life isn’t just about gritting our teeth, relying on our own talents, pushing through on our own, but learning to hope in the Lord in times of difficulty. Those who hope in the Lord will be strengthened. Those who turn to the Lord will have strength for the long haul, strength to do small things with great love, strength to embrace great challenges, for the building up of the Church, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls

 

Trusting in the God who renews the strength of His people and who calls us to find rest in Him, let us offer our prayers.

That during this Advent season, the Church may deepen her hope in the Lord and draw renewed strength from Christ, who restores what sin has broken, and for renewal in our parish.

That all who serve the poor, fight against injustice, experience Christian persecution or witness to the Gospel in difficult environments may receive fresh strength from the Lord to continue doing good without growing weary.

That parents, spouses, and caregivers, may be strengthened by God’s grace to persevere with patience, love, and hope amid life’s demands.

For all of the sick, and that those who feel burdened, defeated, or forgotten—may find renewal in Christ.

That all who have walked the pilgrimage of faith and now rest from their labors may rejoice in the fullness of the Kingdom prepared for them.

God of strength, You renew the hearts of those who hope in You. Hear the prayers we place before You and grant us the grace to find in Christ our rest, our renewal, and our salvation. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

December 8, 2025 - Immaculate Conception - Behold your mother

 On Calvary, on Good Friday, from the Cross, Jesus gave a commandment to his followers. With his final breaths, he said, “Behold your mother”. Behold your mother. Even in his agony, he was thinking of his mother Mary. And he commanded that we do the same. One of the dimensions of the Christian life, part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, is to behold Mary, to behold her. After all, Jesus told us to do so.

We behold Mary in a number of ways. We depict her in art. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and our mother in faith, has been depicted in art, in paintings, statues, stained glass windows, murals and mosaics, more than any person in human history. She was even painted on the walls of the catacombs. 

We behold our mother by considering her faith—meditating on her countless virtues. We meditate upon how she responded to God with humility and trust at her annunciation. We meditate upon how she went in haste out of charity to her cousin Elizabeth who had become pregnant in her old age. We meditate upon how Mary rejoiced at the birth of Christ in the poor stable of Bethlehem—how she faithfully brought Jesus to the temple and pondered the words of Simeon who foretold how her heart would be pierced by swords of sorrow. We meditate upon her strength, as she stood at the cross of Christ, her only son, consoling Him as only a mother’s presence can. 

Beholding our mother by meditating upon her faith and virtues is always fruit for us—how we, like her are called to respond to God, the mission and role God has for us in salvation in history. 

We also behold our mother by considering the special graces given to her by God. And today we celebrate one of those graces, one of those special favors and privileges that God chose to bestow on Mary. 

Today, beholding her, we look, not to the end of her earthly life, not to a moment when she was influential during the ministry of Jesus or even his childhood or infancy when she birthed him and nursed him. We look to a moment even before Mary was an infant herself, born of her parents Joachim and Anne. We behold our mother, today--looking to the very first moment of Mary’s existence as a human person, her conception in the womb of her mother. 

And beholding her at the first moment of her existence, we are taught that God did something he had never done before, and never will do again. He made her immaculate. 

By virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race, God preserved Mary from the stain of original sin from the moment of her conception. That’s what it means to be immaculate—to have been made without stain.

Could God do this? Of course. He is God. Nothing is impossible for God. God is all-powerful. To say God couldn’t do that is to assert that he is not Almighty. But he is. He could make her immaculate if he so chose. And he did. And Christians have believed that He did since the beginning of the Church.

In the early church we see the great Fathers teaching about Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Hippolytus around 235 writes, ““She was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption.” St. Ephraem around 370 writes, “[Jesus], Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother.”

The bishop and doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose, whose feast was yesterday, December 7, in 388 “Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.” 

Why did God make Mary this way? Because he wanted to—he saw it fitting—to make Mary immaculate—to prepare a worthy Mother for His Son. He made her Immaculate so that the Word might take his sinless flesh from the sinless flesh of an immaculate mother.

We honor and obey God by doing what we have been taught by Jesus Himself—we behold our mother. So make sure you do. Love her. Get to know her. Imitate her virtues. Turn to her in prayer. Behold her today and all days. Don’t let a day go by without beholding her in some way. For Jesus commanded it so. He gave her to us to be our mother also, a mother filled with special graces to help us be the people God made us to be—to use the graces he has bestowed on us in His service, for the building up of the church, for the mission of the Gospel, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.