Jan. 1, 2013: Mary, Mother of God

The other day, I was at an office supply place buying some short pens that will fit in my shirt pocket. I had my black clothes on but not my collar. The clerk who was scanning my purchase looked at me and said, “You must be buying these for your work at the restaurant. You must be busy these days.” I replied, “Yes.” He must have thought that I was working at a Chinese restaurant as a waiter.

Several of you have said to me when I do not have my collar on, “You must be working undercover today.” If there was one person who worked “undercover” all her life, it was Blessed Mother. Only her husband Joseph, her son Jesus, her cousin Elizabeth, the angels, and Heavenly Father knew her true identity as the the Theotokos, the God-bearer, or literally, Mother of God. She spent her whole life in silent pondering of what God has done through her.

In today’s Gospel passage, we hear about the shepherds who went to the manger to see Mary, Joseph and the infant child. When the shepherds arrived, they not only saw the child who was the Emmanuel, they saw the mysterious mother of the child; she was the ideal disciple, for she heard the good news, pondered it in her heart, then responded fully to it. Her heart became the place of discovering Jesus, and who he truly is. And as Mary pondered that visible Word, we too must ponder that Word in scripture, that Word in each other, that Word in the created world around us. We too are asked to incarnate Jesus in our lives. This is needed by all of us in this new year, in this strange and confusing age.

Blessed Mother is blessed of all women, and we are told in the blessing from the Book of Numbers in today’s first reading, that God will smile upon those he loves and who love him, that his face will shine upon them. And today, this New Year’s day, we know that the face that smiles upon Mary as she holds him in her arms. presenting Him to His Father in the Temple, is that of her new-born Son Jesus. This is the face we yearn to see, the face of God made flesh, born of the Virgin Mary.

O Blessed Virgin Mary, from the cross your Son appointed you to be Mother of the entire human race. This great gift of Jesus reveals how much I need you to be my Mother. O Mother of God, deepen my love for you. You lead us to your Son, and your Son leads us back to you. May I find in your maternal love the total acceptance I need from moment to moment to live my life. Mother of the Life, by which all things live, be the Mother of my whole person. Take my sorrows and turn them into joys. Mold me in your way of holiness. Whenever you love us, you give us Jesus. Bless me with the certainty of being loved, and help me to grow in intimacy with God. With confidence in your maternal mediation, I entrust to you my intentions.