January 1, 2010
SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
1 JANUARY 2010, 5:15, 8:00, 10:30
READINGS: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA
Introduction: This is one of the great feasts of the year; we celebrate that Mary was indeed the Mother of God. What’s also good news is that she is our mother too!
1. There’s a story told that Jesus was taking His morning walk through heaven. Suddenly, rounding a corner, he met some nasty people who should be in the other place. Angrily He went to the front gates to bawl out Peter. In his defense, the apostle said, "Lord, when the unworthy come here, I chase them away and tell them to go to hell! But then they go to the back door, knock softly, and your mother sneaks them in." The Christ smiled and apologized to Peter. He promised to go fishing with him soon. Then He whistled softly as He went off to have lunch with Mozart and Bach. That is indeed the way Mary works.
2. Artists of the medieval period often painted the Virgin with a voluminous cloak. Very much like Mary’s image in our beautiful window. Their inference was that all of us could get under such a large cloak, hide there. Then, if necessary, we could hide and seek sanctuary and support from her. She would be our own back door into Heaven.
3. We must be careful not to make of Mary just a plaster statue. Mary was human in every way possible. She knew hope and laughter; she knew fear, pain and loss. Remember, she held the infant in her arms with the joy of every mother who gave birth to a child; remember, she met that child of hers making his way to Calvary with the pain of every mother who outlived a child. The great American spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, said “Mary is in the highest sense a person because she does not obscure God’s light in her being.” In other words, when we let the light of God shine in our lives, we are at our best too.
Conclusion: Mary surely is an aid to us on our journey to heaven; further Mary is our model of how to live saintly, holy lives. She shows us by her virtue how to let Christ’s light shine in us.