Today is the octave day of Christmas, that is the eighth day since
the feast of the Nativity of Jesus. It is the oldest feast honoring Mary. The
gospel passage for this feast is same as the Christmas Mass at Dawn, which
tells of the visit of the shepherds to Mary's new born son, Jesus.
For this feast, the verses telling of Jesus being brought to the
temple on the eighth day to be circumcised and given the name Jesus is added.
Until recently, this day was called the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus.
Today the focus for this feast is on Mary as Mother of God, and has the importance of solemnity.
In the first centuries, the Church struggled with the question of
the true nature of Jesus. Was he merely a man, albeit, the greatest of all the
prophets that God had raised up. Or was he much more, indeed, did he share in
the very divinity of God?
The Council of Ephesus in AD 431, declared that the Son was true
God, co-eternal with the Father and begotten from His same substance, arguing
that such a doctrine best codified the Scriptural presentation of the Son as
well as traditional Christian belief about him handed down from the Apostles.
This belief was expressed by the bishops in the Creed of Nicaea, which would
form the basis of what has since been known as the Nicene Creed.
The Church quickly realized that since Jesus is both man and God,
and since Mary in her womb and gave birth to Jesus, it is right to call her,
Mother of God - Theotokos - the womb that held within it the one who is both
human and divine.
This is a great mystery of faith. In the 2nd Reading, Paul sees in
this mystery God's wonderful plan for our humanity.
Jesus came from the divine to enter into our lowly humanity.
He leads us back through our communion in his humanity to share in
his divinity.
So in baptism, we mere humans are born again and now we share in
the divinity of Jesus.
By our rebirth in Jesus, it is right to speak of Mary, mother of
Jesus, as our mother as well.
As we begin a new calendar year - which reminds us that we are
moving ever closer to our ultimate destiny, let us keep these things foremost
in our thoughts:
Jesus the son of God is our brother, dear to us as we are to him.
That Mary is our heavenly mother, caring for us with the love and
protection of a devoted and loving Mother.
Think of ourselves, not as some weak and failing piece of
humanity, headed for the grave, but as a royal child of God the FATHER, beloved
as Jesus is loved, protected in the arms of Mary our mother, destined to live
in this family for all eternity.
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