Man do we need that Spirit of Fortitude!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Patronal Feast of St. Sebastian Parish

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a great joy to celebrate with you this, our patronal feast, the feast of St. Sebastian, martyr. In the life of the Church, each parish community is entrusted to the intercession, inspiration, and imitation of a particular saint or mystery of our faith. By God’s providence, love, and wisdom we have been entrusted to St. Sebastian, and so, since the founding of our parish well over 100 years ago, this relationship has grown. I’m afraid that in recent decades, in many communities, a vibrant awareness of that relationship with our patron saint has waned, and I was greatly blessed by my experience of Catholic life in El Salvador during the years I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Every man, woman, and child knew of their parish and town patron, knew when the feast fell, and celebrated it with joy! Every Catholic ethnicity from which we have descended, whether Italian, or Polish, or Croatian, or Irish, or German, or French… fill in the blank if I’ve missed your ancestors!... every place had particular devotions and traditions to the saints. Our glorious stained glass at the back of the Church pays homage to those traditions, and reminds us of their ongoing validity. In our own time, we are just as much, if not in even greater, need of the intercession and inspiration of the saints, and by our very baptism we are called to follow their example! And, thus, St. Sebastian has been entrusted to us, and we to him! This is why our patronal feast is very rightly, by the liturgical law itself, allowed to displace even the Sunday liturgy, with its proper readings and prayers.

Listen carefully again to our Collect, our Opening Prayer, as it gathers together the Church’s desire for us on this feast:

Grant us, we pray, O Lord, a spirit of fortitude,
so that, taught by the glorious example
of your Martyr Saint Sebastian,
we may learn to obey you rather than men.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

It is a wonderful prayer that places before us a great challenge… to truly ask for and desire what is offered to us on this feast, and then to live out of that grace in union with the Most Blessed Trinity.

Let’s begin where the prayer begins… a prayerful request for a spirit of fortitude. Let’s face it… to actually and authentically live our faith each day isn’t getting any easier, and sometimes it seems like the forces arrayed against us are mounting! St. Sebastian was a soldier in the Caesar’s Praetorian Guard, and a devout Christian. As he engaged in acts of charity, and as he encouraged other Christians to be steadfast in the face of persecution and martyrdom, we can only imagine he was aware of his own peril. In our own time, we mark very sadly this week the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and since that decision, well over 50 million children have been killed in their mothers’ wombs. On average, that’s something like 3500 abortions every day these 40 years. We see here how Blessed John Paul II was so on target in referring to the Culture of Death. It’s not popular to oppose the killing of unborn children, it’s not popular to offer healing and reconciliation to those who’ve had abortions… to offer reconciliation and healing it is necessary to admit that something bad happened! It’s not popular to promote Christian Marriage. It’s not popular to identify sin as sin and then to fight for virtue in one’s own life and in our broken world. And so, we truly need the gift and spirit of fortitude.

Our first reading is intense… the Greeks are trying to force the Jews to abandon their religion, and they have fallen to barbarous torture of 7 sons before their mother’s eyes. And, yet, with admirable fortitude, she encourages them:

Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.”

We do not face such extreme circumstances in our country, as many of our brothers and sisters do in other nations at this very moment, but there is no doubt that to live our faith fully and authentically requires fortitude and courage. This must come not simply from our own resources but from God.

The call to be strong in our faith is not a call to be aggressive or violent towards unbelief or unbelievers. The call to be filled with fortitude is also a call to be filled with the Lord’s gentle mercy. Those who have had abortions must hear from us the truth that abortion is terribly wrong, but they must also hear the truth that God’s mercy is infinite, and they must find mercy in us as well. St. Peter gives beautiful advice on how we are to be ready to obey God rather than men:

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduce in Christ may themselves be put to shame.

A martyr chooses to follow God’s truth rather than the errors of men… a martyr chooses death rather than abandonment of God’s loving truth. We who may not face death must apply this to our own circumstances: Do we follow God’s truth without counting the cost? Do we love and forgive generously and freely? Do we speak of God’s truth in season and out of season? Do we acknowledge God before men, or do we keep silent?

The broken world in which we find ourselves today is full of men, women, and children who do not know the Lord, who have not encountered His Truth, who have not experienced His Mercy and Love. If they do not encounter God in us, where will they find Him? We are His Body, the Church, we are His Sons and Daughters, we are meant to be His voice, his hands, his feet. Terrible lies are working terrible suffering in our very midst… by God’s grace we must ask for the courage to fully embrace the truth, and then to act on it with love. On our patronal feast, on this feast of St. Sebastian, we ask God to fill us with the beautiful gift of loving fortitude, that we might follow St. Sebastian’s example, loving God and His truth without counting the cost. We prepare ourselves now to approach this altar from which we will once again receive the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ. All the grace we desperately need is about to be offered to us under the humble appearance of bread and wine.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Our Murky Water, Jesus' Fine Wine...

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Six stone jars were standing back in the shadows, something like 25 gallons apiece. They had held water for the ceremonial washings, but that was all long past… the feast was in full swing. A middle-aged woman, strangely serene and beautiful despite her obvious humility and poverty, a widow… she gestured to a group of servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” The servers shrug… theirs not to question why, but to follow orders, to serve. Ok, good enough, they filled the jars back up. More ceremony, more washings? Oh well… and then, a far stranger order from the woman’s son: “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” Now, head waiters are notoriously testy and dictatorial. I was the headwaiter my final year at the seminary, so I know what I’m talking about. People are always running up and asking nonsensical questions, or asking for special dishes… it’s easy to get a little short. The server shrugged again… who knows what the headwaiter will say when he’s brought a cup of plain water…

Think of the ordinariness of the people involved in this wedding feast, and the strangeness of these requests. Let me propose to you that God is very often, indeed, nearly always, at work in surprising and unexpected ways in the midst of ordinary events. God might even be at work in our midst!

The Wedding Feast of Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle was understood by the Church Fathers together with the arrival of the Magi and the Baptism in the Jordan. Together, these three events show God’s presence in His world, Jesus’ presence, becoming more and more visible. First Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, then the shepherds, then the Magi, then those gathered at the Jordan to hear John preach and to be baptized, and now, all those gathered at this provincial wedding feast. God is revealing Himself, showing us who He is, and how he works.

In Jewish ceremonial washings, care would have been taken to use fresh pure water, and presumably that is what the servers used to fill those large jugs. What God does in us is even stranger… the water of our daily lives, our thoughts and feelings, our actions… this water is often not always fresh and pure. Sometimes it is murky and stagnant. Sometimes we find not the odor of sanctity, but the bitter stink of sin and falsehood. And, yet… even such water as this can be turned into sweet wine! We see it so often in the lives of the saints, many of them great sinners who were converted, like Augustine, like Mary Magdalene, like Francis of Assisi.

In our own time, the water that flows in our land and in our culture and in our lives is often troubled and impure water. The prophet begins today with these words:

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.

Isaiah spoke to people who had seemingly abandoned God and His Law… people in exile and far away from their creator. He spoke to convict, to challenge, to convert, and to encourage. A wound that is unacknowledged is a wound that festers, a wound that infects. We live in a wounded land and a wounded culture. There are many layers to the lies we tell, but chief among them is the lie of abortion. Tragically, we mark this week the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that has led to the deaths of over 50 million children in their mother’s wombs, and the deep grief and pain of the mothers and fathers of those children. I was born in 1978, and so the Abortion Regime reigned over my generation. Perhaps 30% of the boys and girls I should have attended school with, boys and girls who should have been my friends, never made it to birth. For 40 years, an average of about 3500 abortions every day in our land. Like Isaiah, I could not serve you well or honestly if I was to keep silent. This is an awkward and painful subject to address… not unlike the rumors that must have spread through Nazi Germany about the concentration camps. Have you ever thought, “How did the Germans allow such a tragedy to happen?” Have you ever thought, “How come no one stopped Hitler?” The analogy is imperfect, but I cannot help but feel that future generations may well ask a similar question of us, “How did they allow such savagery?” How did they allow so many men and women to kill their children and wound themselves?

This wound is deep in us, and it is not a wound just in the cities, far away, affecting other people. Abortion has affected our lives, right here in this community. As a young priest, in less than 4 years, I have heard more than a few men and women confess to abortions, often decades after the event, and I have heard the profound pain in their voices, and seen the grief in their eyes. Just as much as I must speak of this for the children, I must speak of this for the mothers and fathers, and for future mothers and fathers. Many, perhaps most, of the people who have sought out abortions have found themselves in very difficult circumstances, but killing their child has not fixed the problems or improved those situations, but has merely added a deep wound to the other sources of pain and struggle.

It is hard for me to speak of this pain, hard to identify this Holocaust in our midst. We shudder at Schindler’s List, and yet we, we have killed or allowed the killing, of far more children then were every killed by the Nazis. This wound cannot heal if it is kept in the dark.

I often fear that those who have been party to an abortion only hear judgment from the Church and from God. We must identify the lie and the sin honestly, but we must also speak of God’s infinite mercy. Every sin can be healed and forgiven if it is brought to the Lord, brought into the light. Isaiah did more than identify the pain of his people:

No more shall people call you “Forsaken,” or your land “Desolate,” but you shall be called “My Delight,” and your land “Espoused.” For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse.

By the Incarnation, God bound Himself to us much more intimately and completely even than the union between a husband and a wife. He took upon Himself our every burden, wound, and sin, and this includes abortion. The world tells us with a honeyed tongue that there’s nothing wrong, that it’s a necessary choice, but that honey carries bitter poison. God speaks to us with love, compassion, and identifies the wound, the sin, the hurt. He desires to draw us to Himself and to heal our wounds. He desires to take the often impure and turbulent water of our lives and transform it into sweet pure wine. The Lord can and will do this, if we will come to Him with open hearts, if we will follow His commands.

Let me close by entrusting myself, and each of you, into the hands of our mother, Mary. Jesus gave Mary to us as a spiritual mother from the Cross, He entrusted us to her care and protection. Mary models for us surrender of one’s life into the Father’s hands, and God brought about our salvation through her. We encounter in our Gospel today her last recorded words in Scripture, and they are words we should take to heart. She brought the servers to her Son and said, “Do whatever He tells you.” She speaks those same words to us. May we turn to the Lord now, conscious of our great poverty, our great need for His mercy and healing strength. With eager expectation may we open the door to His unexpected and surprising gift from this altar now, His own Body and Blood.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Baptism - God's grace is free, but not cheap!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year C

Jesus first appeared in silence, gently, quietly, noticed only by a few. A lot of time has passed, so to speak, since the events of last Sunday’s Gospel… roughly 30 years! With Epiphany, the Magi arrived to pay Jesus homage shortly after His birth, and this Sunday we remember Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist, His cousin. However, these two events, along with Jesus’ first miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana were understood together by the Church Fathers as all part of the Epiphany… which, again, means manifestation. The Magi recognizing Jesus, the Father acknowledging Him at the baptism, and His first miracle at Cana together express the beginning of His public ministry, God’s presence in the world becoming visible. We know as a matter of faith that God is always and everywhere present in all things… but that does not mean that His presence is always obvious or visible to us.

One of the great mysteries of this feast is the very fact that Jesus chose to be baptized. John the Baptist recognizes that Jesus is greater than He, and yet, mysteriously, Jesus is baptized by him.

What is baptism? It is the first, the primordial, sacrament, and the gateway to all the other sacraments. We baptize, at the most basic level, in obedience to Jesus’ very clear command, “Go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus told Nicodemus that, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” Baptism is an integral part of how God intends us to be saved and sanctified.

What does baptism do? Like all the other sacraments, the outward sign expresses and brings about an inward reality. Three effects result from baptism. The person, normally a child, is welcomed at the door of the Church, a sign that they are being welcomed into the Living Body of Christ, the Church. They are washed with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and this effects a cleansing of their soul of the stain of original sin, and any actual sins they may have committed. Finally, by baptism we become the adopted sons and daughters of God, and we are to live as priests, prophets, and kings in our world. That is, we are to sanctify, teach, and serve our world so that it may be brought to eternal life. From our baptisms there flows an intrinsic call to holiness; to be holy as the Lord our God is holy. At baptism we are also given the gift of the Holy Spirit in an initial way… this is signified by the anointing with the chrism on the crown of the child’s head.

Note well, the person who is baptized is incorporated into the very life of God, and called to respond completely. However… baptism is the beginning, not the end, of the journey. God calls us to continual and ongoing conversion, and thus baptism opens the door to our being continually nourished and healed by the Eucharist and Confession. It would be nonsensical for someone not baptized to approach either sacrament, and at the same time, it would be very unwise for anyone baptized to absent themselves from either sacrament. Baptism is a free gift, unearned, and thus we can see how it can be given freely and lovingly even to babies and small children. But God doesn’t save us without us, without our cooperation and participation. Paul’s letter to Titus captures this beautifully:

The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ,

God’s grace comes sweetly, gently, unearned… but then it immediately calls us, trains us, and empowers us to live temperately, justly, and devoutly.

We see here why the promises of the parents and godparents made at baptism are so important, and why the Church can’t in good conscience admit someone to be a godparent if they aren’t attempting to practice their faith. An infant or small child can only learn of Jesus Christ and respond to the gift of baptism if they are taught, and most importantly, if they are given a good example! Without this, they have indeed received the gift and become sons and daughters of God, but they have little opportunity to respond and learn and grow. Indeed, the Church very clearly instructs me as a priest who baptizes that I must have some founded hope that the child will be raised in the faith, or I must not baptize them. Baptism is not magic, nor is it merely a nice ceremony, but it is a gateway and door to a lifelong journey of growth and conversion.

With that foundation, though, how could Jesus, God and man, free from sin, how could He have sought out baptism from John? What possible reason or need could He have to be further purified, or further united with the Father? We see John the Baptist himself struggling with this mystery! Jesus, though, in His great humility, wisdom, and power, takes on the whole human condition, and is like us in all things but sin. He never sinned, but on the Cross He would bear the whole terrible burden of sin, and as He was baptized with John’s baptism of repentance, He took upon Himself our guilt and our repentance. How the Lord lowered Himself, How He humbled Himself, How He came among us as one like us! This is how much He loves us, How much He respects our precarious freedom, How much He invites rather than coerces! Long long before the Prophet had foretold such a Savior:

Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

Jesus shows us the way that we might follow, and by His grace and victory enter into His sonship. God the Father said of Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased,” and He desires to say that of each of us as well: “You are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter.” He offers us infinite grace and mercy so that we may respond and live in such a way that He is well pleased by Faith, Hope, and Love at work in our lives. God has come, He has humbled Himself mightily, He has offered Himself to us, and will offer Himself to us once again at this Eucharist. May we respond generously and with joy!

A Vigorous Search and a Willing Heart

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

We celebrate today the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, and I want to illustrate the deep meaning of this great feast through the lives of two remarkable people:

In 1774, a little girl was born who would be raised in the upper crust of New York society. She was from an educated and cultured Episcopalian family, and she married a wealthy young man from a similar background when she was 20. They were deeply in love, and in the years ahead she would give birth to five children.

In 1811, a boy was born in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). His was a devout family in a devout age, and he felt called to the priesthood. He studied industriously in the seminary and at the University of Prague to prepare himself for this holy goal. He finished his studies and prepared for ordination.

Let me pause both of their life stories at this moment… a moment when in both cases their vocational journey seemed to be settled, Elizabeth in a happy marriage, and John in the diocesan priesthood. In both cases, circumstances beyond their control were about to break into that apparent tranquility, and God was going to offer each of them unique invitations and graces.

Our feast today is called Epiphany, name that comes from a Greek root that means Manifestation. The Church focuses our attention on God and His grace bursting forth in His Creation in unexpected times and places. We are invited to see clearly and notice Him at work, if we have eyes of faith with which to see. He has worked this way many times, and He continues to work in this way.

God entered His world at the moment of the Annunciation when the baby Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He became visible, less hidden, on Christmas Day, the moment of His birth. God’s Incarnate Presence in the world, Jesus Christ both God and man, then began to be more fully revealed, more fully manifest. Mary knew, and then Joseph, and then Elizabeth and the tiny St. John the Baptist in her womb. At the moment of Christ’s birth this circle of awareness began to grow. Who came first…the shepherds, the lonely stinky outcasts. It’s not quite what the Jewish people expected! It wasn’t the wealthy and the powerful, the well-fed and content who heard and responded to the angels’ Gloria! Now, today, with Epiphany, we mark the arrival of the Magi, or Three Kings. These men were not Jews… they were foreigners, and pagan astrologers to boot. They were not the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Nearly a generation later, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, you can still hear his surprise:

It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Notice that these strangers were seeking God, active in the pursuit of wisdom, but also docile to His promptings and guidance. That’s not such a common combination, but exactly what we should aim for: actively seeking God’s will, but responsive to God’s plan when it is shown to us!

Let’s go back to our two friends. Elizabeth’s family’s business went bust, and then her husband died of tuberculosis while they were in Italy hoping for a cure. She encountered the Catholic faith firsthand there, and to the astonished dismay of her family and friends, she entered into full communion with the Catholic Church back in New York in 1805. After her sister-in-law also converted to Catholicism, the boarding school she was running to support herself and her family was shut down and she was essentially run out of town. In the years ahead she would found the Sisters of Charity and engage in heroic missionary endeavors all around the eastern United States.

John, too, found himself in a pretty pickle, because just as he finished his theological studies and petitioned his bishop for ordination, that very same bishop put an embargo on new ordinations because they had too many priests in Bohemia! After cooling his heels for a while, inspired by the missionary letters of our very own Bishop Baraga, he decided to come to the United States as a missionary, and he was subsequently ordained a priest in New York City. He eventually joined the Redemptorist order, and then was made Bishop of Philadelphia.

Neither St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American to be canonized, nor St. John Neumann, the first American bishop to be canonized, could possibly have imagined the path their lives would take, nor the amazing work that God did through them, and indeed continues to do through them. However, like the Magi, they were both actively seeking God’s will, and responsive to that surprising will when it was revealed to them. Out of their graced willingness to leave their own good plans behind, God did amazing things.

This abundant and yet unexpected grace is how God works and has always worked. Listen again to the words of our first reading:

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.

These words were spoken to the Jewish people just as they were embroiled in war, exile, faithlessness, and failure. And, yet, in that struggle, God offered them true and enduring wealth, joy, and peace… His Word and His Will. In our own time, too, thick clouds cover the peoples… the clouds of selfishness, individualism, and faithlessness. Yet, even into our empty and despairing popular culture, God longs to pour out grace and truth, through us! Then… if we will respond… well, Isaiah said it best:

Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.

God has entrusted enormous wealth to us, the infinite abundance of His grace. Just as He unexpectedly called the shepherds and the Magi, and revealed great wealth to them, God in the Flesh; just as He called St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann out of the apparent wreck of all their hopes; God continues to manifest Himself to us and through us. This is what we celebrate on Epiphany… and this is what we are offered at this Mass. Will we seek God’s truth, His infinite grace offered to us on this altar? Will we respond like Mary and Joseph, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann? It is to this joyful response that we are called by our feast.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Mary guides us into the New Year

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Today we continue to celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation, God become man and dwelling among us! It is the octave day of Christmas, and we pray as if it were Christmas day… the joy of this feast is too great to be contained in just one day! And so, I greet you once again: Merry Christmas! We prepare to enter into a new civil year, it is true, and very rightly should we wish one another a Happy New Year, but the mysteries of our faith come first and go deeper.

The title with which we honor Mary today goes back to the earliest centuries of the Church, a time of great tumult and theological debate. There are four great ecumenical councils in those early centuries that hashed out how we should express our belief in Jesus Christ, God and man, and in the Holy Trinity – One God, Three Persons! These may not be household names, but they stand at the very roots of our faith and the life of our Church: the Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, and the Council of Chalcedon in 451. You’re already familiar with the first two, although you may not know it! The creed we recite every Sunday and Holy Day at Mass is most properly called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, although that’s such a mouthful we normally just say the Nicene Creed! However, it’s the third ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, that concerns us today.

A priest and theologian by the name of Nestorius started a controversy back then, because he proposed that it was not proper to call Mary the Theotokos, which is Greek for the “God-bearer” or the Mother of God. He had a good intention… he thought that this somehow diminished Jesus’ humanity. However, this title, Theotokos, had been used in popular prayer for centuries. As the debate developed, it became clear that not only was this title, Theotokos, the Mother of God, appropriate, but it was actually very important. By calling Mary the Mother of God, in one Greek word the whole mystery of the Incarnation was captured – Jesus had a mother, Mary, and thus the son of a human mother is himself fully human. At the same time, Jesus is the Son of the Father, the Divine Logos, the Word of God, and so He is fully God. And, he isn’t some sort of split personality or hybrid, but one person, God and man. By uniting a human attribute, having a mother, and the truth that Jesus is God in one word, we are constantly reminded of this profound mystery that God Himself came among us as one like us in all things but sin.

Now, this is all very well and good, it’s important history, but what does this have to do with us on this New Year’s Day? Is there more to this than ancient history? Very much so… for this truth, this mystery, lies at the very heart of our hope and our journey into God’s grace.

Listen again to Paul’s VERY succinct expression of this mystery:

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.

It is precisely by this man born of woman, Jesus, that we are adopted by God and saved. We are no longer slaves, although we often seem to be, for we have been bought and freed at a great price. God in His infinite power, demonstrated infinite humility and respect for our precarious freedom… He came to us gently, quietly, as one like us, to save us. Every time this mystery is proclaimed to us, we face a profound question: How will we respond?

It is here that Mary herself becomes such a great help to us. The mystery of calling Mary Theotokos, the God Bearer, the Mother of God actually had everything to do with Jesus Christ. The theological debate wasn’t primarily about Mary…which is fitting, because Mary wasn’t primarily about herself! She was all about God, about doing His will. Her words can and should become ours: “Be it done unto me according to your word!” If we will say that to God with Mary, then God will gently and sweetly draw us into His mysterious and beautiful and loving plan of redemption, working in us and through us to save us, and also the whole world.

So we honor today the Mother of God who shows us how gently God comes to save us, and shows us how to respond to that offer of perfect freedom. Do you know what Mary’s last recorded words were? It was at the Wedding Feast of Cana, and she said in reference to her Son, “Do whatever He tells you.” As we give thanks to God for the year that has past, and as we ask His blessing on the year ahead, let us also ask Mary’s intercession, follow her example, and allow those beautiful words to echo in our hearts in the days and weeks and months ahead, “Do whatever Jesus tells you.”

The Greek letters in the red circle to the left of Mary's head are an abbreviation of "Mary" and those to the right are an abbreviation of "Theotokou," the grammatically adapted version of the title Theotokos

 + A. M. D. G. +