Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

NB: Before beginning my homily I shared a few extemporaneous remarks about how much what Josef Ratzinger set forth in his book Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life has shaped and formed my own approach to preaching since the time I started to preach. It is important to communicate the faith handed on to us and to do so in a way that doesn't dumb it down, water it down, make it static or too mundane

Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3.5-6.8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

Today is the Eighth Day of Christmas. This is the eight-maids-a-milking day. Today we bring the Octave of Christmas to its conclusion. For a week after Christmas, we observe each day, liturgically, as Christmas day.

I don't know about you, but I find Christmas much more satisfying after observing Advent and then celebrating the entirety of this season. At least here in the United States, Christmas lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Because this feast is on 9 January, we still have slightly more than a week of Christmas to go. But if you’re really into Christmas, an argument can be made for extending the celebration of Jesus’ Nativity until 2 February, the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation in the Temple, something alluded to at the end of our Gospel today. Traditionally, this feast is known as Candlemas. This is the date when the Vatican’s Christmas trees come down.

A big event, like the Incarnation of the Son God, who is “true God from true God” as well as "incarnate" as man "of the Virgin Mary," deserves a big celebration. It is fitting that today’s solemnity ends the Christmas Octave and falls somewhere near the middle of this festive season. It is also fitting that at the beginning of a New Year we turn to Mary, whose Son gave her to us as our Mother as he hung on the cross. So, if it is by the Spirit, as Saint Paul indicates in our reading from Galatians, we call God "Abba, Father," by the same Spirit we can call Mary Mama, Mother.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, after speaking to a group of Christians here in the United States, many of whom were not Catholics, was told by a woman that she didn’t understand the Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In her beautifully simple way, Mother Teresa replied: “No Mary, no Jesus.” Hence, when we ponder the second Luminous Mystery of the Blessed Virgin’s Rosary, which is the Miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana, the fruit of that mystery is “To Jesus through Mary,” we see how integral this humble woman from nowheresville is to God's plan.

Restating Mother Teresa’s simple reply using a homophone, we can also say: Know Mary, (k-n-o-w) know Jesus. Mary is the model Christian disciple. As Pope Benedict XVI stated in his homily for this solmenity ten years ago: “Mary is the mother and model of the Church, who receives the divine Word in faith and offers herself to God as the ‘good soil’ in which he can continue to accomplish his mystery of salvation.” Since the Holy Spirit is the mode, or way, that the Lord remains present in, among, and through us until he returns in glory, we should also not shy away from and, in fact, often say the venerable Latin prayer: Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam- "Come Holy Spirit, come through Mary."

Pray for the Holy Spirit to come through Mary so that you, too, can offer yourself as good soil for God's word to grow, putting yourself at the service of the great mystery of salvation, which began with Christ's birth in Bethlehem of Judea more than 2,00 years ago.

It’s important to understand the liturgical year in order to appropriate the mystery of salvation more deeply, it’s good to mention that during Advent and Christmas we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary quite often. On 8 December we observed the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and on 12 December we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Under the title Immaculate Conception, our Blessed Mother is patroness of the United States of America and as Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, she is the patroness of the Americas, north and south.

It is important to understand that we do not worship Blessed Mary, ever Virgin. According to the first commandment, we worship God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- and God alone. In Greek the word for “worship” is latria. By contrast, we venerate the saints, those holy women and men who have, by the grace of God, attained holiness through their lives and, as a result, have reached beatitude.

Over the course of the Christmas octave, we observe the feasts of Stephen, deacon and first Christian martyr, Saint John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, who were killed by Herod’s order in an attempt to murder the king this jealous ruler was told about by the magi. It is in the Octave of Christmas that the Church remembers Saint Thomas Becket, who was also a martyr, who gace eloquent witness to the faith by choosing God over the king, even though he deeply believed in the divine right of kings. Even kings, Becket knew, are subject to the King of Kings. Theologically, this “veneration” is also called by its Greek name- dulia.

Between the worship of God and our veneration of the saints, between latria and dulia, is a special category, a category that consists of one member This category is called hyperdulia. This is the category of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is just what sounds like- super, or hyper, veneration. While more the mere dulia, it still falls short of worship. Mary, while fully human, is unique among all human beings. It is no small thing to bear God’s only begotten Son, giving birth to him in the flesh.

Jesus, as we profess in the Creed, is “consubstantial” with the Father as it pertains to his divinity, through the Blessed Virgin Mary he is consubstantial with us, in our humanity. And so, indeed, all generations call Mary blessed. Christians have hypervenerated, prayed to, and relied on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary practically from the Church's beginning. While they certainly sought to correct excessive medieval Marian devotion, none of the major Protestant reformers (Luther, Calvin, Cranmer) ever repudiated Marian devotion entirely.

Not to venerate our Blessed Mother as "full of grace" and not to call her "blessed" is to ignore the injunction of Sacred Scripture. Failure to venerate Mary is not only a failure to recognize and even adore Jesus' true humanity, something we do as contemplate of Christmas creche each year, it is also a failure to fall before the great mystery of God-made-man-for-us. You see, divine nature was not human nature until the Son, by her consent, was conceived in the Virgin's womb. He was not conceived in the natural way but in a supernatural way, a wholly unique way. By this dramatic act, God seeks to unite us to himself. This dynamic is captured well in the words the deacon says, sotto voce, when pouring water into the wine at the altar: "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity."

And so, my dear friends, as we begin a New Year by celebrating today's beautiful solemnity, New Year being a time for resolutions and new beginnings, I once again urge you to make the resolution to seek our Blessed Mother's intercession each day of 2023. I exhort you to do so in at least two of three ways.

First, consider taking the time to pray the Rosary daily, that is, to pray one full set of mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious) each day. You can do this while sitting quietly and contemplatively or while walking or perhaps even while driving. Second, pray the Angelus morning, noon, and evening (during Easter the Regina Caeli). Third, when you have a concern or a concern, or someone asks you to pray for a specific person or intention, respond by praying the Memorare.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, on this your Solemnity, and at the beginning of a New Year, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam. Amen.