We Celebrate The Solemnity Of Mary The Mother Of God
By Fr Dexter Brereton, CSSp ThM STL
Luke 2: 16-21
Every year at the beginning of the civil calendar year, the Church around the world celebrates the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. Tonight, we celebrate Mary as God’s instrument, a bearer of blessing to all of humanity. She is no less than the bearer of God’s only Son, Messiah and Saviour. We honour her tonight under the title “Mother of God.” This we must carefully explain. To call Mary Mother of God is not the same as saying that ‘Mary is the Mother of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).’ CLEARLY, she is not! The title Mary Mother of God is the English translation of an ancient title of Mary in the Church “theotokos” in Greek which literally means “God-bearer.” When Christians from the earliest times called Mary “Mother of God” or “theotokos”, they were making a statement about MARY’S BABY – who is also a divine Person, God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. In summary then, Mary is not mother of the Trinity, but only Mother of the Word incarnate, Jesus Christ, ‘God-with-us.’
Tonight, the Church invites the believer to join Mary in grateful contemplation. In the Gospel reading for this feast, St Luke writes: ‘When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.’ Mary is presented to us as the model for all Christians who are invited to make time to contemplate the Word of God. Each and every day! It is appropriate we ask ourselves what are the ‘things’ we are invited to treasure and ponder in our hearts? The Words of God are not simply the written texts in the bible. The Word of God are also the great and small events which unfold in the world around us, the world of today, the world of Trinidad and Tobago. We should note as well that the things we are called to ‘treasure and ponder in our hearts’ are not only happy events. They include not-so-happy events, tragic events, hard events.
Pope St John Paul II said that Mary ‘kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. He goes on to add: “So she did in Bethlehem, on Golgotha at the foot of the cross, and on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended in the Upper Room. And so she does today too. The Mother of God and of human beings keeps in her heart all of humanity’s problems, great and difficult, and meditates upon them.” The Lord invites us at this feast to learn the art of true wisdom. True wisdom comes when we avoid the distraction which comes with endless old talk, complaining on social media, or endless partying with friends. True wisdom comes when we sit quietly before these significant events of our time and wait for the Lord to unfold their meaning. What are these events which contain ‘words’ from God? We think of the closure of PETROTRIN as a Word from God, we think of the hiring of Gary Griffith as Police Commissioner, we think of the worsening situation with Global climate change. We think of the situation of the flood of migrants to our country from next door. When we learn to see the events of life as ‘Words from God’ upon which we are called to meditate, it helps us to understand that life as we know it, is far more special, far more blessed than we ever believed. Most of us are weighed down by the belief that our lives are a dreary meaningless succession of events. The Word of God today tells us that life is a series of words to be treasured and pondered in our hearts.
Many years ago, a friend of mine punched a fellow worker on the job, and was severely disciplined for it. She never saw herself as a violent woman and when she was demoted, for a while nurtured suicidal thoughts. Then, after consultation and prayer with a prayer group, she calmed down somewhat and allowed the events to come again to her mind. Like Mary, she pondered these things in her heart and uncovered much truth about herself, about her own inner anger and about the false image she presented to the world around her. She said that those long months of silence after those terrible events was a truly ‘growth-filled’ experience in her life. I pray tonight that we all follow the example of Mary as she sits quietly before the strange and marvelous events unfolding in the world around her. Amen.
