And so this is why we celebrate this Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God; it is because of her that we are able to celebrate Christmas.

Solemnity of Holy Mary Mother of God. Jan. 1st, 2010

I want to begin by wishing everyone a very blessed New Year. With this great feast of Mary Mother of God we come to the end of the Octave of Christmas; that eight days of solemn celebration of the nativity of our Lord. This Solemn feast of our Lady is a relatively new solemnity in which the Church desires to draws us more deeply into the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord. In other words, the Church wants us to contemplate and consider what truly happen on that blessed night two thousand years ago we now call Christmas, and to do so in order to grow deeper in our knowledge of and our love for our God and so enter into a deep abiding union with Him.
Hopefully we know the catechism's answer of what happened that night: that the incarnation was when the invisible God became visible in the flesh which He took from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now the whole world can ‘see’ its God because He actually condescended from heaven to become one of us, physically born of the same Blessed Virgin Mary on Christmas. Now in Christ the fullness of deity resides in bodily form. But what did the birth of Jesus really do for us? Perhaps to answer this question we could quickly take a look at what the world was like before Jesus’ birth.
Well to sum it up in just one word, the world was cruel. The human person had no value; people were only valued only in so much as what they could produce. Woman were consider less than slaves, for the most part only consider the personal property of their husbands; property which could be discarded for any reason whatsoever. There was terrible, terrible immorality, dishonesty, and cruelty--everywhere. Although it’s hard to believe, conditions back then were worse then than they are now.
You see, back then there wasn’t much love for God because God in the hearts and minds of almost everyone, including the Jews, was so very far away. He was in His heavens light years away, infinitely distant. God, for average person, was a Divine Being who had to be pacified; God was an angry God who had to be made calm. So awesome was He (and His is awesome) that no one was even supposed to say His name.
The people back then did not have a personal intimate relationship with God. One’s relationship with God was merely in the sense that if you were good, God would bless you; if you were not, He would not bless you. Proof of God’s favor was many children and wealth; proof of God’s disfavor was disease, barrenness, economic poverty and political oppression. Unless you were wealthy and had power you were in a bondage no better than a slave or even an animal for that matter; economically for the most part there wasn’t such thing as a middle class there where only the rich and poor. And so most folks looked for the coming of the prophesied Messiah, the chosen and anointed one of God, but only so he would grant them material prosperity, comfort and security; they were looking only for a political Messiah-a “bread king”.
Even more than all of what I just mention, there was something even more terrible and dark, even though most didn’t realize it; there was something that was the cause of all the unhappiness, suffering and evil in the world. Because of it, souls lived in a bondage and poverty more terrible than any caused by an opposing earthly enemy or material or economic poverty. Souls before the birth of Jesus were in bondage with no hope for freedom, they were held in slavery to sin, the most horrible evil on earth and the actual cause of the separation and infinite distance between God and men; because of sin all men were enemies to God.
And so, before Jesus, no one could make it to heaven at all; everyone, everyone, was consigned to death, eternal death. This is why, as the bible tells us, the Christ had to be named Jesus. The name of Jesus means God saves—in other words, “Savior.” The name was assigned by eternal decree; likewise the reason: “For it is he who will save his people from their sins.” Today’s Gospel carefully records Jesus being given His name, that Most blessed of all Names.
And so, Jesus has come to offer to all men the possibility to be free, free from sin and free from eternal death. And if that wasn’t enough, He as even made it possible for those who would repent and believe in the Gospel, not only to be free from sin, but to become adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. Think of it: Do we really realize our great dignity? The Son of God became a son of man, so that the sons of men could become sons of God, actual partakers in the Divine Nature of God Himself. How can we even begin to begin to appreciate what the birth of Christ as done for us, each one of us?
And so this is why we celebrate this Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God; it is because of her that we are able to celebrate Christmas. It was by her fiat, her yes of consent freely given that we received Jesus the Savior, while we were still in our sins, as today’s second reading reminds us. Without her yes, which she was free to not give, none of us here would have any hope of reaching God, reaching heaven. If not for her, no matter how “good” we would be, there would be no hope for eternal salvation. But because of her, because of her sacrifice we now have hope. She has made it possible for God to come us. So that we might be saved, She has given God a baby, His own Son, to offer in sacrifice for our life! To keep this solemn feast then is to show her our immense gratitude and love to the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as to Jesus.
Yes, in some respects our world today doesn’t seem much different than it was before the coming of Christ—men’s hearts are still cruel, the human person is still in many cases, such as in abortion, not valued much; and there is still immorality, dishonesty, and cruelty--everywhere. But the big difference is now we have hope. God is no longer distant, somewhere out there high in His heaven; now because of Christmas and because of Our Lady, He is close, infinitely close to each one of us; closer in fact than we are to ourselves. Because of Our Blessed Mother we can be free from sin and even more-infinitely more, we can enter into a divine union with Him even while we walk yet on earth; a deep friendship which goes beyond what the mind can even imagine. Heaven has come to earth because of Mary, our heavenly Mother.
Now at this beginning of this New Year as in everyday of our lives, while we still breathe, we can begin anew. Because of the Mother of God we not only have a model to imitate but a advocate a helper to be with us as we strive to become better, holier, by turning away from sin to a new more fuller life in Christ. Our Blessed Mother is with us at this Holy Mass and every Holy Mass, inspiring us to “do whatever He tells us.” She will lead us to live more fully with her Son Jesus, who is God now with us…within us. She will help us find Him and see Him, with the eyes of faith, both in the Holy Eucharist at every Mass, and in the depths of our souls were He longs and desires to become one with us, to actually share His Divinity and so His divine life with us, so great is His love for us.
Jesus chose to come into this world through Mary, and he continues to come into souls through holiness by grace which by divine decree comes only through her. And so obviously, we would all be well to turn to her for help as we make our New Year resolution to start anew in our growing in our love, our hope and our faith in Jesus our Lord and God. In fact, as one writer put it, “anyone who desires grace but ignores our Lady seeks grace in vain.” She will help us if we turn to her, to believe even when we don’t fully understand; to grow in prayer and so intimacy with Christ; to expand every ounce of our energy to bring Christ to others and of course to avoid sin and anything that might distract from her divine Son, to whom she points with confidence, hope and love.
Today at this Mass, through her help and intercession, let us make her words our own as we offer ourselves through her to Her Son in the Holy Echarist: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.”—be it done unto me according to Thy Word.”