Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God [January 1, 2018] Luke 2:16-21

Some of us may wonder why the Church places the celebration of the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God on January 1, or on the New Year. One may guess that the Church wants us to attend mass on the first day of the year, so as to start the year right. For those who wish to have a long holidays, it might be pretty a kill joy, but for some of us who wish to be blessed for the entire year, it is a nice thought. Yet, surely there is something deeper than that.

Mary as the Mother of God is the most ancient and foundational among the other Marian dogmas (there are four Marian dogmas). As early as second century AD, Christians in Egypt have prayed to Mary, and called her as the holy mother of God. The prayer is known as “Sub Tuum Praesidium” or “We fly to your patronage”, a prayer that is still being prayed daily by us, the Dominicans. At the council of Ephesus in 431, in effort to defend the humanity of Jesus, the Church proclaimed Mary as the Mother of God as definitive and bonding for all Christians of all time.

For non-Catholics, to call Mary as the mother of God is pretty idolatrous. If God has a mother, Mary must be the highest goddess of all! The Catholics must fall back to polytheism as they worship Mary like the ancient Greeks offered incense to Hera, the supreme goddess of Olympus. But, for the well-informed Catholics, the title ‘Mother of God’ does not point to the divinity of Mary, and in fact, we never consider Mary as another supreme being. She is human just every one of us, but she is so blessed because the Word was made flesh through her (Luk 1:31). Thus, in simple logic, we may say that Mary is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God, therefore, Mary is the Mother of God.

Now, any true Marian teaching always sheds us more light on Jesus and brings us closer to God. If a woman becomes a mother because the child she bears, then it is fitting to place this solemnity of the Mother of God in close proximity to the Birth of Jesus or Christmas. No wonder, the Church honors her motherhood exactly at the Octave (8^th day) of Christmas, which happens to fall on January 1. This connection between Mary the mother and baby Jesus is reflected also on today’s Gospel who speaks of the birth of Jesus.

Perhaps we are just lazy to attend the Mass today, especially we have many other plans. We rather choose to be caught in the festive atmosphere of New Year. Yet, it is also the day that we reconnect with brilliant Church Fathers who defend this teaching, with many Christian martyrs who choose to die for this truth, and with countless devout Christians who honor the Mother of God. If we begin New Year with a lot of resolutions, why don’t we make honoring Mary, as Jesus honors His mother, as our resolution?

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP