Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Today is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Regardless of where you find yourself on the spectrum of devotion to Mary, this day in the life of the Church offers an invitation to reflect on the person and mission of Mary and to consider her place in our lives. I humbly suggest that if we aren’t actively seeking our Mother’s intercession, we are missing a tremendous opportunity for blessing in our lives. Today’s readings overflow with blessing for us as God’s children, co-heirs with Mary’s Son, our Lord. I invite us to reflect today on our Mother as a fount of blessing for us, for our loved ones, and for the entire human family.
Growing up a Non-Catholic Christian, my faith formation included nothing of Mary, except what I read and heard of her in the scriptures. I certainly had no particular devotion to her and was admittedly suspicious of those who did. Upon my conversion in August of 2016, Marian devotion remained a mystery to me. I made learning about Mary and her enduring role as Mother of God a priority, but I remained skeptical that I would ever develop a devotion. I cautiously held her at arm’s length. Given this attitude, nothing stunned me more than a visit from our Blessed Mother on October 22, 2016! Her presence and a word she gave me strengthened me greatly during a significant trial I faced at that time and will be a message to which I always cling. Later I realized that this day marks the Feast of St Pope John Paul II, who had a deep devotion to Mary. Before I even knew her, our Mother came to me; before I even believed in her influence, she came to demonstrate it to me. And in case I was still unsure, she chose the feast day of this influential Pope whose consecration to Jesus through Mary has inspired millions. On January 1, 2017, I consecrated myself wholly to Jesus through Mary, following St Pope John Paul II’s method of St Louis de Montfort, using this book. I share this testimony only as a means to hopefully inspire and encourage you to seek our Mother – perhaps for the first time, perhaps to return to her, perhaps to deepen your devotion to her.
Today’s first reading is often referred to as the Aaronic Blessing or the Priestly Blessing. This text holds a prominent place in Jewish faith and liturgy and affords us a profoundly beautiful yet simple way to pray blessing over people. Perhaps we could each write this blessing prayer on a notecard and keep it with us until we memorize it. It’s such a great prayer to pray over anyone at any time. Similarly, today’s Psalm 67 echoes the Aaronic Blessing and offers another great way to seek God’s blessing. Today, I wonder if we could set aside time with our family and/or friends to pray these blessing prayers over our homes, our lives, our neighborhoods, those most in need, our nation, our world. We can do that in complete confidence because as our second reading tells us, we are indeed children of God! We have been adopted into God’s family through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. As God’s unconditionally beloved children, we are heirs to the promises of Christ. We can freely cry out to God as our Abba, our Papa, our Daddy. We enjoy this spectacular blessing as children of God because one woman gave her unconditional “Yes” to God and bore God’s Son, our Savior. Mary the Mother of God is eternally the Mother of our Lord and yes, eternally our Mother, too, because we are adopted sons and daughters of God.
Luke tells us that Mary kept all the supernatural, phenomenal, miraculous things of God, reflecting on them in her heart. Today, let us reflect on the wonder of our identity as sons and daughters of God. Not only do we have Christ as our brother, we also have a Mother. Let’s open the door to her to love us and lead us to her Son. Let us open the door to even greater blessing.
Today, as you enter into this new year and a new decade, May 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!
- Elizabeth Wourms