Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Redneck Squirrels, MS
Listen Here (8.00am Mass)
We call her "Advocate of Eve," "Seat
of Wisdom," "Cause of Our Joy," "Help of Christians," and "Mother of
Sorrows." We greet her in prayer, “Hail, Mary! Full of grace!” And we
call upon her intercession using a variety of names: Our Lady of
Guadalupe, Our Lady of Knock, Queen of the Americas, and Our Lady of
Prompt Succor. But all these titles and names are meaningless unless we
understand the one title that makes all the others possible: Theotokos,
God-bearer, the one who gives birth to God. Mary is who and what she
is for us b/c she is first and foremost the Holy Mother of God. This
title was settled upon in 431 A.D. by the Church Fathers at the Council
of Ephesus. Fighting back a heresy that wanted us to believe that the
Christ was actually two different persons—one human and one divine—the
Fathers declared that Christ is just one divine person with two natures
(human and divine). Mary gave birth to the divine person of Jesus
Christ, making her the mother of God Incarnate. And since we never
celebrate a Marian feast w/o remembering the One to Whom Mary always
points us, we also celebrate her son, Jesus, the Messiah. Given all
this, I'd like to propose another title for Mary: Mother of Our
Freedom! Why this title? Paul writes to the Galatians, “When the
fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. . .so that
we might receive adoption as sons. . .So you are no longer a slave but a
son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”
We are no longer slaves but
sons, heirs; and made so by God through the faithful cooperation of
Mary. The Mother of Our Freedom cooperated (operated with) the Holy
Spirit and received into her womb the seed of the Word, which grew into
the divine person of Jesus. His birth into human history and his death
into eternal life makes our salvation possible. He cuts a path through
the thorny tangle of sin and death and draws us behind him to be taken
up, made holy, and seated at our inherited place at the banquet table of
God. Our release from the slavery of sin, our escape from the
inevitability of death is accomplished by Christ through the cooperation
of Mary. She is the Mother of Our Freedom b/c she gave birth to the
only means of our freedom. From slaves to heirs, we move ever closer to
the perfection of Christ.
Our perfection in Christ is both
our work and the work of God. Just like our Blessed Mother cooperated
with the work of the Holy Spirit to conceive and give birth to Jesus, we
too are vowed to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit to conceive
and give birth to the Word, making his flesh and blood our flesh and
blood; surrendering our hearts and minds, and our hands and voices to
the holy work of preaching and teaching the Good News to the world. The
longer and harder we work at accomplishing this task, the higher we
climb in holiness and the deeper we delve into divine wisdom. Like the
shepherds who find the Holy Family in the manger and “made known the
message that had been told them about [the Christ],” we too are vowed to
finding Christ, following him, and making his message known. After
seeing the Christ-child, the shepherds go home, “glorifying and praising
God for all they had heard and seen.” And we too will return home, our
heavenly home, glorifying and praising God, if we do what we have
promised as followers of Christ to do. Mary held on the message of the
shepherds, reflecting on it in her heart, remembering Simeon's warning
in the temple that her heart would be pierced by the sufferings of her
son. While the shepherds adored and the people were amazed, Mary
quietly grieved, knowing the destiny of the one sent to redeem us all
from the slavery of sin.
Mary's grief must have been
nearly unbearable. Having assented to the conception of the Word and
given him birth, she is left with the sure knowledge that her son is the
long-awaited Messiah, the One who would suffer and die for the sins of
men. To gain our freedom, the Mother of Our Freedom had not only to
bear the Christ into this world, she had to witness his suffering and
death for our sakes. And not only was she a witness to his passion, she
suffered along with him as any mother would. Her heart, pierced by the
sword of grief, bled out even as Jesus bled out on the cross. As
painful as his death and her grief no doubt were, as a result, we rose
as a race to be the adopted children of the Father, heirs to His
kingdom. Granted the inheritance of the ages, in possession of God's
promise of eternal life, and the possibility of perfection through His
Christ, what do we do in order to give thanks? How do mere creatures
show appreciation to the One who created and re-created them? There is
nothing we can do or say that would equal this gift, that would express
the enormity of this sacrifice for us. We are left to do only that
which we have already vowed to do: bring the message of God's love and
mercy to the world in all we do, say, think, and feel. Despite
opposition, persecution, ridicule, and violence, we deliver the message
that Christ is Lord! When we do as Christ did, and speak as he spoke,
we grow closer to our perfection in him.
Some 1,600 years ago, a council
of Church Fathers hashed out a theological statement that confirmed what
most Christians at the time already believed: that Mary is the Holy
Mother of God Incarnate. As the mother of God, she bore into the world
the Son who grew up to teach and preach the saving word of his Father's
mercy to sinners. Not only did he teach and preach his Father's mercy,
he embodied that mercy; he gave that mercy flesh and bone and walked
among us as a sign of contradiction, a rock upon which men's hearts and
minds would be broken to reveal the truth inside. When confronted with
the raw truth that your sins are forgiven and that you are no longer a
slave to sin, the truth that dwells secretly within breaks out and
flourishes in the light of Christ. The shepherds wandered the desert on
the word of an angel until they found Christ. The truth in their
hearts dropped them to their knees in adoration. Those near the manger,
the ones who heard the shepherds' message, had their hardened hearts
softened and exposed. They were left amazed by the Good News. Mary,
Mother of Sorrows, had her heart broken on the knowledge that her son
would suffer and die. The truth in her heart led her to a life of
humble service to the Lord. Within the Body of Christ, his Church,
there is a truth that will renew us, a truth that will bring us to
remember our vows, and urge us to rededicate ourselves to the hard work
that Mary started when she said Yes to God. That truth is this: each
of us and all of us together are the flesh and blood of God's Word, not
just people who believe or people who do good works, but the People of
God who walk out into the world to be—however imperfect—Christs for one
another. Mary, Mother of Our Freedom, gave birth to the only means of
our freedom, Christ Jesus the Lord. Will you, will we say Yes to God,
conceive His Word, and keep in the world the mercy and love that Jesus
lived and died to bring to us? Do this holy work and the Lord will
bless you and keep you! The Lord will let his face shine upon you. .
.The Lord will look upon you kindly and give you peace!
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