Mary, the Mother of God

RESOLVING TO LIVE AS GOD’S CHILDREN

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

Readings for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

A video I saw recently has a four-year old say she has “problems with new year resolutions”! Ah! Doesn’t she speak for all of us? 

But the wise one says resolutions are problems not because she’s “bad at them” but because “most people think that’s it… it’s the one time to change.” Resolutions are not about that “one big moment” but working through several little ones. 

What could be a good new year resolution?

In the second reading, Paul recalls a fundamental truth of our faith: the incarnation has freed us and enabled us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God. A good new year resolution (and one we need to make every year) is to realize more fully this new life as children of God.

How do we do this? The gospel presents Mary as a model of this new life! Mary said “yes” to God. She did not understand the immensity and implications of that “yes” which was not restricted to that “one big moment” but involved several little (and difficult) yeses. 

How did Mary live her mission? The gospel tells us after the shepherds narrated what the angels had said, “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” After the boy Jesus was found in the temple, we read again “his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” 

Mary treasured the word of God and pondered it to discern his will for her at every stage in her life as his handmaid.

For us, too, life’s choices are rarely clear. We often cannot understand what God wants of us. The example of Mary shows us how to live out our calling as children of God.

Let me today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure his word, and ponder it in my heart. Then shall I be able to realize my new year resolution of a new life in union with God.

The Nativity of the Lord

DO NOT BE AFRAID

Readings for the Mass at Night

Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

Readings for the Nativity of the Lord: Mass at Night

Readings for the Mass During the Day

Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

Readings for the Nativity of the Lord: Mass During the Day

A family was making its Christmas crib; everybody was contributing, putting in the statues and the hay. Five-year-old Scott suddenly ran into his room, brought a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and placed it overlooking Mary and Joseph. It looked so menacing in that manger.

The dad was tempted to tell Scott: “Look, that dinosaur lived millions of years before Jesus was born. He wasn’t around during Christ’s time. And it didn’t look good in the manger.” He added: “I caught myself because I realized that, in essence, he had caught a truth of Christmas. For Christmas came to help us face the dinosaurs in life… those menacing terrors that seem to be so strong, so powerful. Christmas came to defeat them.”

We have so many fears in life! We fear life, we fear death, and everything in between. We fear rejection. We fear an uncertain future. There is fear caused by epidemics and disasters; by a changing economics and a warming planet. We have and face so many dinosaurs!

The antidote to our fears is found in the coming of Christ into the world. Recall that the first words of Adam are “I was afraid.” But the first words that herald the birth of Jesus (the second Adam) are “Do not be afraid.”

There are four times when Gabriel says “Do not be afraid” in the Christmas Story: to Zechariah because his prayer for a son was answered; to Mary because she was the favoured one who would bear God’s Son; to Joseph to take Mary as his wife because what was conceived in her was from the Spirit and would save his people; to the shepherds because he brought good news of great joy. In each case, Gabriel had to tell the recipients of his message not to be afraid.

We still have our fears. And to us, too, the message is: Do not be afraid because our God has provided the remedy for our fears: he has come; he has pitched his tent among us and has given us power to become children of God. He is the light that shines in the darkness to overcome it. 

And so: Do not be afraid! Happy Christmas!

II Sunday of Advent

CTRL+Z

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12

Readings for II Sunday of Advent

One of the most useful Windows shortcuts, and one that I use most often, is “Ctrl+Z”! By pressing this key combo, one can undo one’s last action. Did I key in a wrong word or letter? Did I delete an entire paragraph by mistake? No problem! I just press “Ctrl+Z” and return to where I was before my mistake.

All of us have done things in our lives that we regret and would like to undo: poor decisions, unkind words, wrong acts… it’s part of being human, and sometimes we wish we had Ctrl+Z in our lives.

Advent offers us a Ctrl+Z time and program, summarised in the call of John the Baptist: “Repent… make straight his paths”. 

Repentance is undoing our errors. It is turning away from sin (whatever breaks my relationship with God, others, myself, and nature) and a turning to God. It is what happens when – like the prodigal son – we come to our senses and return to the Father. It is moving from selfishness to selflessness, from defending oneself to donating oneself.

Our ancestry, religious affiliation, social status do not matter. What matters is bearing good fruit: we ought to live justly, in harmony with one another, and in total dependence on God.

When we repent, we collaborate with God in the realization of the ideal realm (which Isaiah foretold in the first reading) and of his kingdom (which Jesus brings and where justice, peace, and harmony reign). 

That’s what Paul exhorts the Romans: “Think in harmony with one another… Welcome one another.”

And yet today we are a divided people… nations are divided, communities are divided, families are divided. 

In trying to build harmony, we focus on conflict resolution. However, there are issues which are difficult to resolve and some which can never be resolved. Psychology and spirituality tell us that the focus should be on conflict engagement. We acknowledge our differences and figure out a way to live in harmony. We acknowledge someone’s perspective without agreeing with that perspective. Not easy but possible!  

In what areas of my life do I need Ctrl+Z? How can I foster peace - justice - harmony… and so collaborate in the realization of the kingdom? 

May our celebration of the Eucharist and of Advent be Ctrl+Z time and help us return to our original state of being.