Mother Church celebrates January 1, the first day of the year 2023 as the feast day of Mary, Mother of God. Since 1967, the Holy See has designated January 1 as the “World Day of Peace.” On this day, the entire Universal Church shares man’s deep aspirations for peace.
In his message for this day, the Holy Father Pope Francis says that “Our greatest and yet most fragile treasure is our shared humanity as brothers and sisters, children of God. None of us can be saved alone.” Warning of the dangers of war, Pope Francis stresses that “… the virus of war is more difficult to overcome than the viruses that compromise our bodies, because it comes, not from outside of us, but from within the human heart corrupted by sin.”
No day is more appropriate to yearn for peace than this day that the Church dedicates to a woman of peace and attentive listening, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. As Pope Francis tells us “Mary is the queen of peace. At the birth of her Son, the angels gave glory to God and wished peace on earth to men and women of good will.”
This feast is closely connected to the feast of Christmas and it is the most important and oldest of the major feasts the Church dedicates to Mary. It is based on the source of her privileges: that is, her motherhood. Jesus Christ, God’s Son “born of woman” (Gal 4:4) came to deliver us from sin and make us children of God. Jesus is also the Son of Mary who, as the Fathers of Vatican II Council say, in their document Lumen Gentium, is “truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer … not merely passively engaged by God, but freely cooperating in the work of our salvation through faith and obedience.” The Holy Spirit prompts Elizabeth to acclaim Mary as the “mother of my Lord.”
The Entrance Antiphon of this day’s Mass says of Mary: “Hail, holy Mother! The child to whom you gave birth is the King of heaven and earth forever. Amen.”
In the first reading from the Book of Numbers, we hear the Lord’s blessing upon the Israelites. This blessing, in the form of a prayer, was frequently used by priests when they blessed the people. In the second reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we hear how Mary is being affirmed as the Mother of God. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of woman.” In the Gospel of Saint Luke, we hear the words of the shepherds saying to one another: “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
First Reading: Numbers 6: 22-27.
The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Comment
The Book of Numbers, which gives an account of the census of the Israelite people, is the fourth of the first five books of the Bible; the others being Genesis, which deals with the origins of the world and the origins of the Israelite people, Exodus, which tells the story of the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, the wandering in the desert and the covenant on Mount Sinai; Leviticus, which gives lists of the laws of the priests of the tribe of Levi, and Deuteronomy, which contains a code of civil and religious law framed by the teaching of Moses and an account of the final preparations for entering the Promised Land. Collectively, these five books form a unit known either as the Pentateuch (from the Greek for five books), or as the Torah (the Hebrew word for Law).
In the passage selected for our meditation, we hear how the Lord is blessing the people of Israel. This blessing is in form of a prayer that was frequently used by the priests as they blessed the people. We hear that the Lord makes his face shine upon the people and that he is gracious to them. When the grace of God shines on his people, there is grace everywhere. God’s blessing on his people will culminate in the fulfillment of the long-promised Messiah, Christ Jesus, who comes into the world through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through the Jewish people, the love and mercy of God became manifest. Through the Jewish people, God has made his physical presence among us in the Holy Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In the course of this Eucharist, my brothers and sisters, let us call on our Lady Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace, to help all God’s people, wherever they may be, to work for peace and to be guided by the light of the truth that sets man free. As Pope Francis said, during the Special Jubilee Year of Mercy some years ago, let us not remain indifferent to the fate of our neighbours; let us not be “unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure,” especially the weak, the poor and the marginalized of society, among whom are the widows, the orphans, the internally-displaced persons from the north, the northwest and the southwest regions of our country. We make our prayer through Christ, the Prince of Peace, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
Second Reading: Galatians 4: 4-7.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Comment
The Letter to the Galatians is the first of the so-called “great” epistles of Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. God inspired Paul to write it at a very providential time, because it provides the best commentary to the decisions of the Council of Jerusalem, the first ever such council of the Church, which is recounted in Acts 15: 23-29. At that gathering, the Apostles, with the help of the elders, or presbyters, of the local church of Jerusalem, and, as they themselves tell us, in union with the Holy Spirit, decided that Christians of Gentile origin were under no obligation to conform to Jewish customs and traditions. Some Jews had been bent on imposing the ancient rites of Israel, circumcision, for example, on others and Paul had to step in strongly to spell out very clearly the truth about justification through faith and about Christian freedom.
In the passage selected for our meditation, Saint Paul evokes the belief he expresses strongly in just about all his letters; namely, that Jesus is both God and man, “born of woman, born under the law.” When Jesus came into the world, he did not just appear out of heaven. He was born of a woman, like the rest of us, except that he was without sin. Through the incarnation, all the elements that hold man in bondage – sin, the flesh, death and the Law – have been conquered by Jesus.
Our Beloved Mother Mary freely participated in God’s plan of redemption for us, by accepting to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “Be it done unto me according to your will,” she tells the Angel Gabriel, God’s messenger, who has come to announce to her that she has been chosen to bear the Saviour of the world (Lk 1: 31-33).
As we continue our prayer this day, let us be thankful to God for giving us Mary, the Mother of our Saviour, through whom we receive endless blessings throughout our lives. May she continue to intercede for us to her Son that we may continue to enjoy health in body and in spirit. We make our supplication through Christ, the Risen Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son. Alleluia.”
Gospel: Luke 2: 16-21.
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Comment
As we said at the beginning of this Eucharist, today’s feast is the celebration of the Motherhood of Mary, Mother of Peace. Our world is yearning for true and lasting peace. Pope Francis once said us that mercy is at the heart of the Church’s doctrine. There can be no mercy without peace because “peace is the fruit of a culture of solidarity, mercy and compassion.”
In one of his Christmas messages to the city of Rome and to the world (“Urbi et orbi”), the Holy Father, Pope Francis, prayed for “Peace on earth to men and women of goodwill, who work quietly and patiently each day, in their families and in the society, to build a more humane and just world, sustained by the conviction that only with peace is there the possibility of a more prosperous future for all.”
According to the Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, “Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.” Mary, our Mother, is a woman of peace, who happily agreed to bear God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us therefore give thanks and praise to God the Father because Mary conceived his only Son. Mary is our Lady, full of grace and virtue, conceived without sin. She is the Mother of God and our Mother, and dwells both body and soul in heaven. Sacred Scripture refers to her as the most exalted of all creatures, the blessed One, the most praised among women, full of grace, she whom all generations shall call blessed.
The Church teaches us that, after Christ, Mary occupies the place that is highest and closest to God, because of her divine motherhood. We hear in the second reading of today’s Mass that when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law. This means that Jesus did not suddenly appear on earth. He became truly man, like us, taking our human nature in the most pure womb of the Virgin Mary.
Saint Cyril says that he is exceedingly astounded that anyone could doubt that Mary should be called the Mother of God. “If our Lord Jesus Christ is God,” he asks “why should the Blessed Virgin Mary, who gave birth to him, not be called the Mother of God?”
When the Blessed Virgin said yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, says Saint Jose Maria Escriva de Ballaguer, the Opus Dei founder, the divine Word assumed a human nature, with a rational soul and a body, formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the only begotten and eternal Son of the Father. This is why our Lady is the Mother of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who has united our human nature to himself forever. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loud and clear by the name that expresses her highest dignity: Mother of God.
The Fathers of Vatican II Council say, in their document Lumen Gentium, that the motherhood of Mary will last forever until the perpetual consummation of all the elect. For, having been assumed into heaven, she has not left behind this salvific mission, but, through her constant intercession, continues to obtain for us the gifts of eternal salvation. With her motherly love, she looks after the brothers of her Son, who are still wayfarers and a prey to danger and uncertainty until they at last reach their heavenly home.
Our Lady, close to her Son, fulfills her mission as the Mother of peace by interceding continually for us with her Son. Filial devotion to Mary is therefore an integral part of the Christian vocation. We are always ready to run instinctively to her, who consoles us in our distress, enlivens our faith, strengthens our hope, gets rid of our fears and invigorates our timidity.
Let us pray. “O God, you made Mary’s virginity fruitful and so held out to mankind the reward of eternal salvation. Through her you gave us your only begotten Son to be the source of our life: grant that we may experience the power of her prayer for us. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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