This morning's homily by Bishop Robert C. Evans (aux. Providence, RI) reminds us of two gifts: the Church that guides us towards God, and Our Lady who shows us how to prepare for all things, especially the unforseen. May this New Year be filled with abundant graces for you and your loved ones!
The Church marks the beginning of the calendar year with the observance of Mary, Mother of God. It is a title that we may easily take for granted, so familiar has become the phrase. However, we should never cease to be surprised, even astonished at the claim that a creature has given birth to her Creator, that a mortal human being is mother to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
As we begin the Year of Our Lord 2012, we cannot know what awaits us, our families, even our world. We hope and pray for the best, we prepare for the worst. I suggest that a reflection on Our Blessed Mother, inspired by her title “Mother of God,” can provide us with two guideposts to accompany us throughout the coming year.
Before Mary could indeed become Mother of God, she had to be prepared for the role by God’s preserving her from the stain of Original Sin, for how else could the sinless Savior enter a sin-filled world? We know this as the Immaculate Conception, for from the first moment of her existence in the womb of Saint Anne she was immune from Adam’s sin. We are not so fortunate, for every human being conceived is done so by inheriting that darkening of the intellect and weakening of the will that results from Original Sin. It is only with baptism that this inheritance is eradicated--although the scars, so to speak, remain. Mary, however, was immune from this state of alienation from her Creator. She instinctively knew and thoroughly wished to do God’s will. In this we cannot hope to imitate her.
However, Mary while being so in tune with God’s will was not preserved from experiencing difficulty in fulfilling it. After all, she earned the title, “Mother of Sorrows.” Weeks after Jesus’ birth, the Holy Family was instructed to flee into Egypt due to King Herod’s attempt to kill the child. Even on the day Jesus returned to his home town and preached in the synagogue, no doubt Mary being present, she witnessed His being dragged out of the synagogue and brought to the edge of a cliff in an attempt to kill him. Within three years, she would find herself at the foot of her Son’s Cross.
In other words, like Mary we too may find obstacles put in our path as we seek to do God’s will. During this coming year, we will have to make choices between good and evil, right and wrong. We are members of a Church that distinguishes right from wrong so clearly and so insistently that some criticize the Church for this certitude. However, when we stop to remember that there is a heaven where happiness, peace and joy will last forever, and that there is a hell, where suffering, punishment and alienation will last forever, and that the judgment about our destiny will depend on what we have done or failed to do in this life, then should we not be grateful for a Church that lights the straight and narrow road to eternity and is not reluctant to teach, correct and reform us?
In order to remain on that straight and narrow road to salvation, we must live in God’s friendship, which we know as the state of grace. Failure to do so by disobeying the Commandments or refusing to heed the moral law results in our becoming alienated from God, and the consequences of Original Sin, that darkening of the intellect and weakening of the will, will aggravate our separation from God to the point where we can become spiritually deaf and blind to Him. Let us resolve in 2012 never to part ways with God but to be encouraged by Mary who while she always wanted to do God’s will nevertheless faced obstacles in doing so.
Finally, in today’s Gospel we hear how Mary kept all these things in her heart, and reflected upon them. Some twelve years later, after finding the Child Jesus in Temple after three days of anxious searching, we read once again that Mary reflected on these things in her heart. Permit me to suggest that during this new year we too take time to ponder the mysteries of our faith, to pray to God which is always listening as well as speaking, so that we too can be renewed and refreshed, and even surprised by how much God loves us and cares for us. Remember, God is never distant from us; only we can widen the gap separating us. Let 2012 be the year we close that gap and never let God out of our sight or our hearing!
I'm besides myself as to how touching and inspirational this piece is. Thank you for sharing. God bless you and Happy New Year.
Posted by: Patrick | Sunday, 01 January 2012 at 10:34 PM