In truth, we can only call God “Father” because of Jesus Christ. It is only because of him that we call the Blessed Virgin Mary “our Mother.” Today, the first day of a New Year, the Church, which consists of those reborn through baptism as God’s sons and daughters, honors Mary, the Mother of God.
Mary is called “Mother of God” because, like Saint Paul, in our second reading, notes: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman.”1 What proof is there that we are God’s children? Paul asserts that the truth of this assertion is that God has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts. So, just as “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the holy Spirit,” no can cry our “Abba Father!” except by the same Spirit.2
Because we are God’s children through Christ, we are truly free. Freedom in a Christian sense is not freedom from but freedom for. In the chapter following the one from which our reading for this holy day is taken in his Letter to the Galatians Paul spells this out:
For you were called for freedom... But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”3At least in Christian terms, this is not just what freedom is for, lovingly serving one another is what it means to be truly free. Note that there is not an ounce of self-assertion in the Christian concept of freedom. This means something significant in terms of how we, as Christians, live our lives.
If having the Holy Spirit in our hearts constitutes the “proof” that we are God’s children, what does this look like? Paul does not leave us in the lurch. He writes that a heart filled with the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit. Accordingly, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”4 Indicating that producing the Spirit’s fruit is what it means to be truly free, he stresses, “Against such there is no law.”5
Because of her immaculateness, by a unique and singular grace, Mary is without sin. Hence, she is the model Christian disciple. Twice in the second chapter of Saint Luke’s Gospel- an action-packed chapter in which the Lord’s birth is written about, as well as his Presentation in the Temple, along with the episode we heard last Sunday, in which he went missing from the caravan and Mary and Joseph found him in the Temple- - we read that Mary kept her recollection of these events and reflected on them in her heart.6 This is the work of the Spirit, which produced in his fruit in abundance.
We can turn confidently to Mary, our Mother. As the opening words to The Beatles’ song “Let It Be” powerfully remind us:
When I find myself in times of trouble/
Mother Mary comes to me/
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Letting things be means trusting God entirely, as did Mary. It means giving everything and everyone, especially yourself, over to God over and over again. The Church, which is also our Mother and Teacher, gives us some wonderful, time-tested and proven ways to do this through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary: the Angelus, the Memorare, and, perhaps most especially, our Blessed Mother’s Most Holy Rosary.
If the word spirituality refers to anything real, it refers to spiritual practices. Of course, generally, we’re spiritual in the sense that we’re human. Spirituality in the intentional means to the end of being more and more united with God, our Father. Traditionally among Christians (and certain others), spiritual practices are known as spiritual disciplines. There are three foundational spiritual disciplines, taught by Christ himself, that must be part of any genuine Christian spirituality: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
It is no accident that prayer is the first of the spiritual disciplines, the cornerstone of spirituality. Romano Guardini noted: “One cannot, in the long run, remain a Christian without praying, as one cannot live without breathing.”7 Prayer is a discipline because let’s face it, if you only prayed when you felt like it, how often would you really pray? It is important to take time to pray every day.
Traditionally, Catholics pray the Angelus three times a day: morning, noon, and evening. In Catholic areas, Church bells used to ring to remind everyone to stop and pray this lovely prayer. The Memorare can be said any time and is a way to pray throughout your day as well as to pray for other people. You can find these prayers easily online or in any basic book of Catholic prayers.
The Rosary is a form of prayer that can be prayed on the go, like when taking a walk, driving, or in a situation where you have to wait. Always carry a Rosary with you. But the Rosary can also be a meditative and contemplative form of prayer. “The Incarnation,” Fr. Vincent McNabb, who, not incidentally, was a member of the Dominican order, observed more than a century ago,
is the centre of all our spiritual life. One of the means by which it is made so is the Holy Rosary. There is hardly any way of arriving at some realisation of this great mystery equal to that of saying the Rosary. Nothing will impress it so much on your mind as going apart to dwell in thought, a little space each day, in Bethlehem, on Golgotha, on the Mount of the Ascension8We are indebted to Pope St. John Paul II who, twenty years ago this year, noting the lacuna in the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, gave us the Luminous mysteries through which we can meditate on the major events of Jesus’s life.9 By praying the Rosary, like our Blessed Mother, you can reflect on Christ in your heart.
And so, in addition to, once again, urging you to pray the Rosary daily during 2022, I also urge you to learn and to pray the Angelus. If three times a day seems too much, consider pausing at Noon, taking a deep, recollecting breath, calling to mind an intention or two, and praying it. Finally, learn the Memorare and use it often to pray for others as well as for yourself. In these ways, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Mary, God will send the Holy Spirit into your heart. There, the Spirit will water and fertilize your heart, helping you to produce its fruit.
I’ll end by echoing our first reading with the words of our Responsorial: At the start of this New Year, “May God bless us all in his mercy.”
1 Galatians 4:4.↩
2 1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 4:6.↩
3 Galatians 5:13-14.↩
4 Galatians 5:22-23.↩
5 Galatians 5:23.↩
6 Luke 2:19.51↩
7 Romano Guardini, The Art of Praying: The Principles and Methods of Christian Prayer. Sophia Institute Press: Manchester, 1985, 6.↩
8 Michael Hennessy, “Fr. Vincent McNabb: A Voice of Contradiction,” Seattle Catholic, 29 April 2005.↩
9 See Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary [Rosarium Virginis Mariae], 16 October 2002.↩
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