Mary, Mother of God, Year B

Love comes down again

Num 6:22-27 Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6+8 Gal 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

Today we ponder on the feast of Mary the Mother of God and it is once again a time to truly wonder at the incredible truth of the Incarnation. God became man. This truth must never cease to amaze, delight, and fascinate us - that the Creator, the Lord of all heaven and earth, took on human form and became one of us. Of course, we can never separate that Jesus was both divine and human, but today is extra special in that we contemplate the “humanness” of Jesus in being the son of Mary, a woman and a human being who became the Mother of God.

The 2nd reading stresses this mystery: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” Here it talks of God’s overall plan; to come down, to be born of a woman (Mary) to redeem us in every way (under the “law”) and to give us our identity as Jesus’ brothers and sisters. God’s only Son became human, so that we humans can become sons and daughters of God – incredible! What a plan!!!

Let us never lose sight of just how amazing this is in which we are pondering today - God’s crazy plan of the incarnation. One of my favourite songs at the moment is “Love Come Down” by a man called Matt Maher and I find he expresses what I feel every time I think of this mystery. It goes like this: “I’m finding grace beyond all measure, In flesh and blood He hides His majesty, Inside of you and me, Why would a king do such a thing? Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it marvellous? The God of the universe he became one of us, we cry out and then love comes down again, faith/hope/love is found in him, Hallelujah.”

Listen to this! And this is an amazing truth. It sounds like fiction but it is true. It is a source of never-ending wonder and joy for us. Look at the gospel today, the very famous account of Jesus’ birth from the shepherds’ viewpoint: “So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Can you feel the shepherds’ amazement? And of those all around? Are you also amazed today or has somehow the incredibleness of this truth become desensitized in you as you have listened to it over and over again?

In the Philippines we hear the prayer, “The Angelus” prayed quite often. For me it was quite a shock when I first arrived to be shopping for groceries at a supermarket and then suddenly for everyone to stop and start praying this prayer. It is an amazing prayer as it reminds us that the Word of God became flesh. And when I first heard the Angelus being prayed (it is not so common to say it where I grew up) it amazed me with the truth of the Incarnation every time I heard it. I thought it is so good to be reminded of God’s amazing plan at least once a day. But after I had prayed it many times I sometimes got a little bit desensitized and just mumbled off the words without really pondering on the meaning behind. But how beautiful to refocus once again on the incredibleness of it all!

And we know that we also have become the child of Mary just like Jesus through his life here on earth. This was fulfilled and really made abundantly clear to us by Jesus on the cross which we can see in John 19:26-28 – “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” After this, we have Mary as our Mother too. This was Jesus’ last wish, for us to really recognize our identity as a child of God through the motherhood of Mary, the Mother of God

Mary will show us how to live as a human, just as she always helped Jesus fulfil his mission and identity. The best example we have is at the wedding at Cana when Mary gently kept nudging Jesus into doing all that he should do in that moment and to start off His ministry to everyone and She will always to the same. She shows us how to live, and how to keep reminding us of how to keep remembering how amazing God’s plan of the incarnation was – look at her in the Gospel – “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” She never stopped bringing God’s plan to mind and heart and allowing it to change and transform her life.

And because she kept it in mind she lived her whole life in great joy! The words in chapter 2 of Luke’s gospel are very famous – here she gives praise to God for how blessed we all are in her beautiful song of praise – The Magnificat – and really this reflects God’s invitation to all of us in the 1st reading today – “You shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” We are so blessed!!!

So let us remember with Mary today and every day exactly what it means to have the Mother of God as OUR Mother also. It means we are sons and daughters of God and everything Jesus did for us, we are also to do too. Go to Mother Mary and she will always remind you of this and gently suggest that we follow her example and ponder over and over again the mystery of the Incarnation in our heart - it will continue to fascinate you, give you joy and all of the motivation you need in every moment of your life! Amen.