Holy Mary, Mother of God 2020 January 1, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Beginning. That’s a powerful word for us, beginning. It strikes us with a sense of potential, of expectation. In reference to a difficult situation, it places weight upon us. In reference to a time of accomplishment or celebration, it fills us with hope. “It’s only the beginning.” The power, the potency of this word is fitting for the feast we celebrate today.
Mary, the Mother of God begins each new year just as she began our salvation. Eve, in the beginning, led us into sin and death by her disobedience. Mary, by her obedience, gives us a new beginning in her son, whose life began in her womb. At the start of each new year, it’s customary for us make New Year’s Resolutions, promises to ourselves and others that we will begin… begin to improve, begin to grow, begin to become what we want to be, what we’re meant to be. In this effort, we Catholics can find no better ally than Mary, the Mother of God. It is her example we should consider as we begin this new year.
First, we must realize that all good things begin not with us, but with God. It is God who made Mary immaculately conceived. It is God who initiated her mission by sending his angel to her. It is God who began her pregnancy and the salvation this means for all humanity. As you seek to make the best of a new year, to begin anew, try not to think it is something you do yourself. Instead, like Mary, be receptive, open to what God is beginning in your life.
That sounds abstract, but there are a few concrete ways to follow the beginning God has established. Start by reading scripture. Sometime this week, sit with the Gospel of Matthew or Luke and just read for a while. Listen to what God has begun in history so you can hear what God is beginning in you. Consider also that God speaks through the Church. Our parish is looking to continue what God has begun. Is there a call to serve, an opportunity to engage with the parish that strikes you? Any invitations we’ve made that sit in your mind, even though you perhaps want it to go away? Last week, I put an article in the bulletin calling for Men to engage with the Exodus 90 program. Does this speak to you or to a man in your life?
There is also the Church’s teaching. Some of our doctrines are unpopular and difficult for the world to understand. Are there some you’ve rejected or ignored or simply didn’t know about? Contraception, Purgatory, Remarriage, Male-Only priesthood, the ever-virginity of Mary, Same-Sex marriage, Confession to a priest. Begin this year by honestly engaging with the teaching you struggle with the most or understand the least. Read, study, pray to understand it and let God begin a new chapter in your life this year by bringing you to greater understanding of his truth.
The second way we can follow Mary’s example is what we see in the Gospel: “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” In addition to recognizing that God begins all good things, we must see that the good things of God only continue in us if we allow them to. It’s not enough to just hear scripture and church teaching and say “sure, I accept that.” We are called to ponder, to reflect, to contemplate the truth in a deeper way.
Catholicism is not a checklist of ideas and behaviors. It is a whole worldview. It’s not just about what we can and can’t do, but about what we love and enjoy. A new mother has many things she has to do, but consider that she often finds herself gazing upon her sleeping child, simply delighting in the fact that he is there, that she finds time to silently contemplate the joy of her child’s existence. The entire Catholic Faith is summed up in the Word of God, who is the very child asleep on Mary’s lap.
Rather than continuing this year with Catholicism as an imposed structure of ideas, resolve to deepen your vision… to simply delight in the truth the same way Mary delights in her sleeping son. Resolve to see the faith for what it is, not an idea, but a relationship with a person… a person so madly in love with you that he became this vulnerable child so that he could eventually die a vulnerable man upon the cross to lead you beyond sin and death into eternal life.
This is the beginning of a new year. Make it an opportunity to begin again your Christian life, to be reborn, so to speak, in the womb of the Church, in the womb of Mary. It is a beginning full of trial and self-sacrifice, yes, but also a beginning of joy, of holiness, of a hope that can overcome even death. See yourself upon Mary’s lap. Beg her intercession as you make your resolutions as you rise up, perhaps joyfully, perhaps reluctantly, to face the year that comes. Be the man or woman God has called you to be. Our faith is a journey into eternity, but it is a journey that begins now. So then, Begin.