Keep Mary in Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

The Catholic Liturgy for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Jan.1, 2019. (Also observed as Annual Day of Prayer for World Peace and New Year’s Day) Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians4:4-7; Gospel – Luke 2:16-21. Theme: Keep Mary in Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart.

The celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, was utterly impossible without the active presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we Christians acknowledge and venerate as Mother of God.  At the beginning of every new year, the Church calls us to reflect upon this truth and this awesome title of Mary. I think it’s important for us to understand what this title says about both Jesus and us.

Let’s look at what it says about Jesus first. In calling Mary Mother, we acknowledge the truth that being a mother isn’t just a matter of biology, of the birth of flesh, of just a physical body.  In cooperation with God, every mother gives birth to the total human being. And so, since Mary conceived and gave human birth to the Divine Person, Jesus Christ, we rightly call her the Mother of God.

Isn’t that an amazing thing to think about? God has a mother who carried Him in her womb, nursed Him, raised Him, taught Him, loved Him, was always there for Him, and who pondered Who He was throughout her life, as today’s Gospel reminds us.  So, this beautiful title of Mary proclaims the truth that Jesus is God-in-the-flesh, God come to live among us as one of us, experiencing and sharing in our human life from conception through death.

Now let’s look at what this title can say about us.  Just as every physical birth requires a mother, the same is true about spiritual rebirth. We need a mother, the Blessed Mother, for the spiritual birth of Jesus Christ to take place within us, making us the adopted children of God by baptism.  St. Paul affirms this in today’s second reading where he reminds us that we receive our divine adoption because Jesus was born of a woman, born of Mary.

But Jesus didn’t just use Mary as a means to an end and then disregard her. He didn’t toss her aside once she served the purpose of providing Him with a human life. Jesus and Mary lived in a deep and mutual relationship of love, a life-long relationship as Mother and Child.

Imagine what this love would have been like, the deep emotion, the joy in each other’s presence, the unwavering commitment.  Consider the unbreakable bond between them, from the first-time Mary held that precious Infant in her arms at Bethlehem to the last time she held Him, bloody and lifeless, on Mount Calvary. This should be the inspiration for our own personal love for and devotion to Mary, Mother of God and our spiritual Mother.

Their mutual love is so worth reflecting upon in our hearts, so that we can make it real in our everyday lives.  We should strive to have a bond with Mary as Jesus had and to open our hearts to her love. We should ask her to mother us as she mothered Him: to spiritually nurse us and form us through her prayers and her active presence in our lives.

So, let’s ask Jesus for the grace to love and honor her as He did. And to rejoice in the love He now lavishes upon her in heaven, where she reigns as our Queen and intercedes for us with a maternal heart of gold.

There is a saying in Catholicism, which comes from the Carmelite religious order that is dedicated to our Blessed Mother, and it goes like this: Keep Mary in mind, and Jesus will grow in your heart.