This is the time of year many of us think about New Year’s resolutions. Maybe we want to get more exercise, watch less TV, volunteer more, eat less, and start rooting for the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl! All of these are worthy goals but today I would suggest that one resolution worthy of our efforts: To be more like Mary – to be full of humble faith.
At Bethlehem we witness the scandal that God came into human history completely helpless, as a newborn. He could have come in power and glory, but instead slipped almost unnoticed into a small province in a forgotten corner of the world to a poor young couple, unwed or only recently married. There were no elaborate preparations for this birth – God was born on the road. The crib was a feeding trough, and those who came to visit were shepherds, not kings. By entering human history in this way, God identified with the powerless, the oppressed, the poor and the homeless. Among them, God could do divine work. A humility born of need is the necessary requirement for entry into this new kingdom.
Mary was above all an example of humble, obedient faith. She belonged to the poor of Jesus’ day – the marginalized and the oppressed. She was at home in a stable and on a donkey, the lot of the very poor, even destitute. She welcomed animals and shepherds, the lowest of occupations, to the stable when Jesus was born. To be humble is to know who we are, our qualities as well as our defects, to be in touch with our true selves, to not wear masks or pretense. Mary was humble, and God was able to work in her as in no other. With humility like Mary’s, God will also work in us and we will be able to share how God is at work in us with the world.
Today we celebrate a feast of Mary: we invoke Mary under the title of Mother of God! It is a very great day, for this title given to Mary is the one that expresses her highest dignity, the most elevated function which Mary exercises. The reason this is, is so that it is an absolutely unique title: no other creature could or will ever be able to enjoy a similar dignity, for Jesus, the Son of God, has and will have only one Mother!
“And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart! Once Jesus had been born, Mary no longer had in her the bodily presence of her Son. However, Mary in prayer was one with her Son! Mary, here on earth, was already enjoying the union of glory that belongs to the elect of Heaven!
Certainly, Mary continued to live in faith like all believers, but she also had this mystical experience which was hers throughout all her life on earth.
May we resolve to do as the shepherds did on the night of the Saviour’s birth! The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God! This is what we must do during our life on earth: praise and glorify God. Yes! We must praise and glorify God like the shepherds who saw not only the child Jesus, but also Joseph, and especially Mary! They saw Mary in contemplation and in adoration before her Son: this vision touched them deeply and led them to praise and glorify God!
We who are going to celebrate the Eucharist must also praise and glorify God: is this not the very sense of the word ‘Eucharist,’ which means “thanksgiving”? Let us resolve to ask Mary to help us in our prayer: let us resolve to ask her for her spirit of contemplation and of adoration! May the New Year that begins today be our year with Mary, in the faith and the love of God who came into the world to save us!
The Christmas story tells the birth of a new king. In this world, God’s Word is heard by the humble. There is a place even for shepherds. There is hope for the poor and the oppressed, and those who heard what God was doing were filled with joy. God has not forgotten us nor abandoned us in the brokenness that we have created for ourselves. The story of Christmas is, therefore, both an announcement of hope, and a call to deep humility.
The Eucharist that we celebrate today is a meal that demands a lot of humble faith. Simple gifts of bread and wine, we believe, are transformed by the faith prayer of the Presider and the community, into the very Body and Blood of Jesus – the humble one. And if we receive them with humble faith and repentance, then we are transformed into the Body of Christ, sent out into the world to be leaven and light to all.
So, to experience the kingdom of God, have faith and pray for humility. Peace.
–Deacon Terry Murphy