Cycle A - Year I:  

1 January 2017: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Please read  Luke 2:16-21

Welcoming the New Year with Mary, our Mother!

 With great joy I greet my readers and friends "A Happy and Prosperous New Year 2017!"

New Year fills our heart with new hope, inspiring us to reach out to new opportunities, and celebrating anew the gift of life.

The Catholic Church opens the new calendar year by proclaiming

Mary as the Mother of God. The Council of Ephesus affirmed in June 431 that Mary can rightfully be calle "Mother of God".

Let us understand this title of Mary in its proper context.

Since Mary is Jesus' mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God. We can affirm this fact by logical syllogism: "If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God."

It is important to clarify, however, that "although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the source of her Son's divinity, for she is neither. Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine person -- Jesus Christ, God in the flesh -- and in the sense that she contributed the generic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ." (Source: Catholic Answers at www.catholic. com)

We honor Mary, Mother of God, for her courage, faith, devotion, and humility. Like all other mothers, Mary must have felt afraid at certain moments in her maternal role, like when Jesus was lost and found in the temple after three days, and also during the agony and death of the grown-up Jesus. But Mary's complete trust in God made her accept the role of a mother to God the Son.

In the Gospel from St. Luke, we read about the poor shepherds who were the first witnesses of the birth of the Messiah. They went in haste to Bethlehem after receiving the Good News from the angel. There they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant Jesus lying in a manger, just as what the angel told them.

We can hear from the Gospel reading about Mary's humility and complete obedience to God's will: "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." (Lk 2:19)

Thus, in Mary we find a perfect model of being a Christian and disciple of Jesus. She was the joy filled mother of the new born Jesus; she was the mother of sorrow cradling her lifeless Son in the "Pieta"; and she was the Queen-Mother standing at the right hand of the glorified Lord, which we proclaim in the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary.

As we begin a new journey in the Year 2017,  let us pray to Mary, Mother of God and our mother too:

"O Blessed Virgin, pray to God for us always, that He may pardon and give us grace; pray to God for us always, that He may grant us peace in this life; pray to God for us always, that He may reward us with Paradise at our death. Amen."

The Church also celebrates this Sunday "World Day of Prayer for Peace". Let us also pray that Jesus, the King of peace, bless our country and all humanity with the gift of His peace. 

Wishing you all again A Happy and Prosperous New Year 2017! And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!