Today we celebrate not only the beginning of the new year, but the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the World Day of Peace.
It’s tempting to focus on the same, tired, old resolutions we seem to make every year. But, celebrating Mary’s Motherhood of Jesus, which all began with her faithful “Yes” to God’s plan, helps us to put things in the proper focus. A new year presents us with an opportunity to ponder what God is asking of us, and to pray for the strength to say “Yes” to it reflexively as Mary did at the Annunciation.
Mary, as the Mother of God, underscores her importance not only as the conduit through which Christ physically entered into the world and humanity itself, but it reinforces her continued importance to all Christians today as a direct conduit to her son, our divine Lord and Savior. Recalling Jesus’ words from the cross, “Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’” (Jn 19:26-27) further emphasizes that Mary’s role in salvation history did not end when she gave birth.
Some twenty years ago, Pope John Paul II wrote about that moment on the cross:
Jesus’ words acquire their most authentic meaning in the context of his saving mission. Spoken at the moment of the redemptive sacrifice, they draw their loftiest value precisely from this sublime circumstance. In fact, after Jesus’ statements to his Mother, the Evangelist adds a significant clause: “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished….” (Jn 19:28), as if he wished to stress that he had brought his sacrifice to completion by entrusting his Mother to John, and in him to all men, whose Mother she becomes in the work of salvation.
The reality brought about by Jesus’ words, that is, Mary’s new motherhood in relation to the disciple, is a further sign of the great love that led Jesus to offer his life for all people. On Calvary this love is shown in the gift of a mother, his mother, who thus becomes our mother too.
for more on this subject, read: https://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2bvm49.htm
There is something else I’m thinking about this new year. As 2016 drew to a close, Pope Francis spoke about a debt that we owe our young people, to help them find purpose in their lives. It got me to thinking about the even younger people and our collective responsibility to teach them about the faith into which they have been baptized. As a mother and a catechist, I know it’s not always an easy task to get kids excited about their faith, but we do owe it to them, and to future generations. These children are the future of the Church. So this year, I am praying, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, to help these young people find purpose and value as children of God and a deep desire to grow ever closer to Him.
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