Friday, January 1, 2020

 Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

(Number 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

January is named after the two-headed Roman god Janus.  As with two heads, this month looks back on the old year and forward to the new.  Many are doing this today.  They see the year gone by as strange, full of uncertainties, and difficult to bear.  As if they fought a war, they feel worn-down if not devastated by the Corona-19 virus.  They can, however, look forward with hope.  People are already being vaccinated.  Perhaps in six months enough will be immune to the virus that most restrictive measures will be lifted.

In today’s gospel Mary seems also to look back and forward. She experienced the appearance of an angel telling her that she will be the mother of God’s Son.  When her child was born, shepherds came to give homage. Yet she sits in a stable like the poorest people on earth.  She probably asks, “What does all this mean?”  And trying to imagine the future, she wonders, “What will become of my son?”

As Mary likely did, we should seek the Lord’s blessing on this first day of the new year.  The one given in the first reading will certainly do.  It offers the benevolent countenance of God to those who kept the law of the Lord.  His face is like the brightening sun in January. Every day it provides more light and warmth to nurture new life.

Homilette for Thursday, January 1, 2009

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

We call the first month of the year “January” after Janus, the pagan god of gates and doors. Statues of Janus have two heads like a door has two sides -- one looking backward and the other forward. Certainly in January we look in these two directions. We repeatedly refer to the old year, sometimes mistakenly writing its number on checks. But as the month moves along, we think more of the possibilities lying in the year just begun.

The Nativity scene with Jesus lying in a manger also calls us to look both backward and forward. The manger is not meant to indicate Joseph and Mary’s poverty, but to recall what the prophet Isaiah said of Israel. “An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger,” Isaiah observed, “but Israel does not know, my people has not understood (me)” (Is 1:3). Now, the evangelist Luke shows, the shepherds of Israel see and know their Lord. The Lordship of Jesus, however, will only be revealed to all lands in the future. After Jesus is crucified, rises from the dead, and send his Spirit upon them, his apostles will preach his name throughout the world.

New Year’s Day is generally reserved for rest and visiting (and, for some, football). But the Church calls us to mass to reflect on the significance of what has taken place during the past week. We have heard the story of Christmas retold. We have celebrated Christ’s coming by acts of kindness and generosity. And we have found ourselves immersed in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill. Like Mary in the gospel we are to reflect on these things in our hearts in order to distill their meaning for the year ahead.

Homilette for January 1, 2008

The Octave Day of Christmas: the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

(Luke 2:16-21)

We call the first month of the year January after Janus, the pagan god of gates or doors. Statues of Janus have two heads like a door has two sides -- one looking backward and the other forward. Certainly in January we look in these two directions. We repeatedly refer to the old year, sometimes mistakenly writing it on checks. But as the month moves along, we think more of the possibilities lying in the year just begun.

The last verse of the gospel reading today similarly looks backward and forward. It says that Mary’s child “was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel...” The word of God spoken in the past has thus been fulfilled. The name Jesus, of course, means God saves. In the rest of the gospel we will hear how Jesus fulfills the destiny related in his name.

Preachers sometimes chide listeners, “Put Christ back into Christmas.” If this call means nothing else, it reminds us that we are to look both backward and forward when contemplating Jesus in the manger. He, like all babies, has delighted us with his soft flesh and warm blood. In the future he will reveal his glory as the son of God with his triumph over sin and death.