Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Most years the first Sunday after Christmas is celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family, certainly a fitting gesture having just celebrated the Nativity.  But when Christmas falls on a Sunday, January 1st follows the next week.  That day is dedicated to the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so this most ancient Marian feast takes precedence:

The Word for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Matthew 1:1-25 or Matthew 1:18-25

Our first reading comes from the Book of Numbers.  Here we have God presenting Moses with an extraordinary blessing.  For ancient Jews, the nature of this blessing is unprecedented.  First, it invokes the Lord’s name, in essence, making God present, or bringing the people into the presence of the Almighty.  Further, it does this three times, a typical modal that represents the intensity of the expression or action (similar to when the Gospels use the phrase “Amen, amen, I say to you…”).  This blessing eventually became the standard blessing at the Temple in Jerusalem and has been a favorite of Jews and Christians from antiquity to today.  It’s use here for today’s celebration of Mary is a reminder of how God’s saving grace and mercy brought us Jesus, who’s name literally means “God saves.”  Our Psalm reinforces that saving grace when we sing, “May God bless us in his mercy.”

Our second reading comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  In this short passage, Paul is reminding us that Jesus came to save us all, both Jews (“born under the Law”) and non-Jews (“ransom those under the Law).  Not only that, Paul establishes a kinship between us and the Lord, establishing that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and thus adoptive sons and daughters of God.  We are no longer servants to the Kingdom of God, but heirs to the Kingdom, a gift realized through Mary’s “yes” to the Lord.

Our Gospel from Luke has us remembering when the shepherds visited Mary and the Christ child, followed by his formal naming under Jewish Law.  Not only does this reading demonstrate the special place Mary has in the Incarnation (God made man), but it reminds us of the true humanity of Jesus.

Final thoughts:
For us today, especially in a parish named for Our Lady, the importance of Mary in the whole Christian story is well known, honored and respected.  But this was not always the case.  In the early church there was much debate, not only over Mary’s significance but in the nature of Jesus himself – was he divine or merely human?  Or something of both?  The questions about the nature of Jesus were settled during the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, confirming both his full divinity and full humanity.  But it wasn’t until the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE where we finally recognized Mary as theotokos – mother of God – and therefore integral to the Incarnation.  Even with this significance, a number of non-Catholic Christians have a tendency to diminish Mary’s importance in Salvation History.  It is important here to note that Mary was not just a passive participant in these events, but fully and freely fully engaged and cooperative in bringing about the Incarnation and with it, salvation for all.  The importance of Mary is noted by the Roman Calendar placing this celebration on January 1st, fittingly placed between the Nativity and the Epiphany, as a remind that through Mary’s “yes” to the Lord, the world was remade anew!