Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord
It was the time of day that determined when blessings and prayers were offered in the synagogues of the first century. Today, we hear that same beautiful “priestly” blessing (from Numbers) which began and ended each day:
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.
With specific time rituals in the synagogues, Mary would have heard this threefold benediction throughout her life. More than this, she would have experienced this blessing first hand in her own motherhood in the mystery of the Incarnation. Like all synagogues, the tiny one in Nazareth celebrated time as a holy thing. Catholics keep time as holy, too, especially though the Liturgy of the Hours and the keeping of the liturgical year (the liturgical year is how we live the life of Christ through time).
Clocks and calendars. “Time marches on" and “time waits for no one.” It is appropriate on January 1 to recall times past and all that has led us to where we have made this new year landing. This rings true for me as I realize that it’s been 50 years since, in my early 20s, I left all I knew and loved in Youngstown and made my way to Cincinnati and St. Gregory College Seminary in Mount Washington to study for James W. Malone, the Bishop of Youngstown.
Like so many of you, I couldn’t have guessed where time would take me.
Let’s count it an undeserved grace that such a wide swatch of persons have crossed our paths, especially the characters! One such for me was anglophile, professor, homilist extraordinaire, and Shakespeare aficionado Father George Berwanger. George was ordained in 1938 by Archbishop John Timothy McNicholas. While at St. Greg’s (1943-1981) he formed hundreds of priests and deacons from a wide swatch of Dioceses. Laypeople, too.
Who are the “characters” who have crossed your path over time? How were they a blessing to you? Can you imagine what your life would have been if they hadn’t become part of your story?
On this January 1st I offer, for your perusal, the following from one of George's artful homilies, apt for today’s Marian solemnity:
“Last night at midnight we closed one great door in the Hall of Time and opened another. As we take our first mincing steps across such a threshold into a new year, it is altogether fitting that we salute her who was the first believer in the New Testament: Mary, Mother of God, Mary the great door in time through which the Eternal Son of God came to share our clocks and calendars. She is the door through which our redeemer came to us, she is now and forever the gate through which we come to him — the gate of Heaven, as one title in her litany proclaims her” (George Berwanger).
Lord of time, keep time with us as we take our own “first mincing steps” through the unknown thresholds of 2026. Gate of Heaven, pray for us!
—Timothy J. Cronin