説教
“Mary, the Holy Mother of God”
January meditation on the Gospel
according to St. Luke 2:16-21
At the very night of Christmas, St. Luke tells us, “They were only the shepherds who had been given the words from the Angel and who, then, had hurried to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger”. They worshipped the baby Jesus and went back glorifying and praising. St. Like continues to tell,
“As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
St. Luke also tells us of Mary when Jesus became 12 years old and was brought to the Jerusalem Temple for being presented to God by her and Joseph during the time of Jewish Passover. St. Luke concludes his story of this again by saying,
“Mary treasured all these things of Jesus in her heart.” (Luke 2:51)
All these things of Jesus must have been mysterious beyond our human imaginations, not only to the shepherds but even to Mary as well. Indeed, all these things of God should be far beyond our thoughts as the Prophet Isaiah told us a long time ago, as follows;
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares
the Lord.
For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)
Although the Lord spoke as above through the Prophet, we humans could not understand the truth and the reality of God’s word as God Himself, that is, Jesus Christ. Thus, when He came to us even in the form of ours, we could not recognize Him as God Himself, thus we judged Him following our thoughts, then crucified Him on the Cross.
Among us Mary was totally different from us.
“Mary treasured all these things of Jesus and pondered them in her heart.”
But why? Why could Mary do this? Simply because, I think, she was the Mother of Jesus, thus the Mother of God. She was conceived God Himself by the power of His Holy Spirit and was given birth to Jesus as His Son and as her son.
She might not understand everything what God had done and had told or what happened to her as she was human. However, she clearly knew to whom she gave birth and He was the Son of God, even God Himself, that is, Jesus Christ, in the human form as her son. Thus, she never judged or branded what Jesus done or what Jesus told her or people. What Mary did, instead, was,
“Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Mary simply believed in Jesus, her son and the Son of God, and trusted in Him as His mother in her motherly love to Him. It is indeed the motherly love to Jesus, the most gracious treasure, which Mary was given by God as His mother.
Mary reminds us of the truth that we too, like her, may be asked by God the love of Mary to Jesus because we, too, may conceive the same Jesus but in the different form from Mary, as in the form of the Blessed Sacrament of Jesus Christ at the Mass.
The Catholic Church has called Mary in respect the Holy Tabernacle as she was conceived Jesus Himself in her womb and embraced Him not only her body but in her heart and soul. It should be only Mary to be called the Holy Tabernacle of Jesus in the truest and proper sense. Nevertheless, each of us, too, may be called a holy tabernacle as we too may treasure and embrace Jesus in us in the form of the Blessed Sacrament.
It is suitable for us to remember Mary, the Mother of God, as we believe that what God requests us is the Love of Jesus, His Son, and trust in Him without reserve as Mary did. Indeed, Mary is the Holy Tabernacle of Jesus who embraces Jesus in her arms. I believe, however, that Mary clearly knows that it is Mary herself who was really embraced with the strongest and the most generous arms by Jesus Himself, above all by His love eternal.
We now start the new Year with Mary by celebrating the Feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God on January the first, 2022.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
