Mary, Mother of God

On January 1, we celebrate the gift of God that comes to us – Emmanuel – God with us. Our God, who so loves us that he took on our flesh from our Blessed Mother Mary. Our Mother cooperated with the will of God by her fiat: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Someone once asked me, “How do I cooperate with God’s will?”  My response is to make ourselves vulnerable to God. We have many examples in scripture and in this Solemnity, we honor Mary’s vulnerability because through it, she became the Mother of God. A young girl, though educated in her faith, did not know all the implications when she responded with her “yes.”  She didn’t know that she would give birth to her child in a manger, that she would receive a prophesy that a sword of sorrow would pierce her, that she would have to flee to Egypt, and that she would witness her son being scourged, tortured, beaten, crucified, and placed lifeless in her arms. Our Mother is a model of letting herself be vulnerable to the will of God. And because of it, she was a witness to his resurrection, assumed into heaven, crowned queen of heaven and earth, and is forever honored second only to our Triune God. Vulnerability –she taught her son this lesson well.

We look to Jesus, fully human and fully divine, and can see his mother in him. She showed him that through listening, obedience, and being vulnerable to the will of God, great things would happen. Jesus showed us best that lesson of vulnerability by his passion and even greater things were accomplished – our salvation. His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from away from me; still not my will but yours be done.”  Jesus made himself so vulnerable to the will of God that he was willing to suffer his Passion for our sake. How about us? What can God accomplish through you and me if we are willing to say yes, to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the will of God? Hard to do? Possibly, but all things are possible with God, even cooperating with God’s will totally, completely, and willingly. May that be our New Year’s resolution this year. Pray for us most Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Deacon Timothy Dougherty
Parishioner