Roman Catholic (left) and Byzantine Catholic (right) Images of Mary the Mother of God of Tenderness

No Audio Homily for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. I forgot the recorder!

From the Catholic Liturgy for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, New Year’s Day, January 1, 2018. Gospel – Luke 2:16-21. Theme: Mothering the Word in the New Year.

Today we find ourselves, as the recipients of two traditions: one religious and the other secular, but neither one opposed to the other: the beautiful solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and our Mother along with the secular celebration of New Year’s Day. The fact that a major religious feast and a very significant civil observance meet as one today is extremely fitting because for millennia, well at least until modern times, the human family has always seen an intimate connection between the human and the divine on New Year’s Day, between the worship of God and the good of mankind.

The ancient Babylonians (about 700-1800 BC) would make a resolution on New Year’s Day to their gods, pledging to return whatever they had borrowed from a neighbor and to pay any debts they owed to others.  The Romans, in Pre-Christian times, would make an oath on New Year’s Day to their pagan god Janus, pledging to seek social harmony and peace. As a matter of fact, this is why we call the first month of the year, January. Medieval knights would profess a vow as their resolution on New Year’s Day as a recommitment to their chivalry, to protect the kingdom and serve the people.

Besides being associated with religious worship – however that was understood and practiced – did you notice that the New Year’s Resolutions of the ancients were also social?  But somewhere along the way, once religion was ignored or even exiled from secular culture, New Year’s resolutions started to become all about the individual, all about ME.  But as Catholics we should see in todays’ double celebration a call to preserve and live the custom of a New Year’s Resolution that is NOT all about ME. 

Mary, Mother of God, is the perfect one to inspire us on this endeavor.  And a line from todays’ Gospel shows us how to go about doing this: “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” The Holy Spirit wants to do for us spiritually what He has done so uniquely and physically for Mary: He wants to make us mothers of the Word, giving the Word of God flesh in our everyday lives so as to bring Him to others. In praying and pondering over the Word, seeing how it can become the root of our New Years’ resolutions, we can make sure that it doesn’t remain just words on a page but gets life, becomes flesh, in our relationships with others.

In silence and prayer, Mary pondered the infant Jesus in his manger and all that was said about him by the angels via the shepherds.  And it is in the same spirit and practice of this silent pondering that we can best formulate our own New Year’s Resolutions with a heart like Mary’s.  Following our Blessed Mother’s example of whole-hearted dedication to Jesus, and knowing what we know now about his greatest teaching, which is the Commandment of Love, we should ponder our resolutions in the light of Jesus’ command that we love God first, others second and ourselves last. This is how we can give spiritual birth, living flesh and bone, to the Word of God in our lives today. We might ask ourselves:

·       How does my intended New Year’s Resolution promote a deeper relationship with God?

·       How does my Resolution help me in my relationships with those among whom I live, work and socialize?

·       And then finally, how does it help me to become the person God created me to be?

In a few minutes, we are going to have the Offertory, the presenting of our gifts to God through Jesus in the Holy Spirit. What a perfect time for each one of us to offer, along with these gifts, and by the hands and heart of Mary the Blessed Mother, our New Year’s Resolutions, asking God to bless them and make them holy.