Mary, Mother of God

December 31, 2008

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Luke 2:16-21

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            On Christmas I talked to you about fatherhood, specifically the fatherhood of Joseph.  On the Feast of the Holy Family, I spoke to you about how Joseph, Mary and Jesus show us God’s will for marriage and family life.  Tonight, as we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, I will preach on Christian motherhood, and how our Blessed Mother serves as an example for all women, especially those who like Mary have borne a child.

            The first way that Mary is an example to mothers is in the example she is.  From the very beginning of her motherhood, at the Annunciation, she says to the Angel Gabriel, “Let it be to me according to your word.”  Herein we see first her humility wherein she sublimates her own will to Him who is superior to her, and in sublimating her will, unites it with the will of God.  Her humility thus precedes her obedience; her humility actually makes her obedience possible.  For we know that the arrogant pursue their own will, imaging that they know better than our eternal Father.  To be an obedient example, therefore, we must be humble, and Mary has this virtue in spades.

            We see it in our Gospel this evening, as well.  As was required under the Jewish law, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, and He was given the name the angel indicated at the Annunciation.  St. Mary’s observance of the Law, her humility and obedience before God, thus serves as an example to Jesus, her Son, the Son of God.  Jesus, the Son of Man, learned His humility and obedience from the example of His mother.

            Mothers would do well to emulate Mary’s own example to her children, that is, her example to all of us.  By refusing to compromise herself morally, by remaining free from the stain of sin, St. Mary could better engender the obedience of Jesus.  When He suffered the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, at the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus had in His mother an example to look to, one who throughout His earthly life had shown Him how to remain faithful in the face of trials.   A mother’s example today does the same thing for her children.  If a child sees his mother resisting temptation, he himself is better fortified to do the same.  Moreover, if a mother has been obedient to the will of God, her children tend to take her more seriously when she summons them to be faithful.  Uncompromised by hypocrisy, her children know that she practices what she preaches, and they do likewise.  The example of her integrity means that her children cannot honestly hold her in contempt.

            The second way St. Mary proves to be an example to modern mothers is in her objectivity.  When Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem, she does not attempt to dissuade her Son from suffering on behalf of all mankind.  Much earlier than that, she learned from Simeon in the Temple that her role as the Mother of Jesus would issue in her own soul being pierced with the sword.  She did not shy away then, nor did she shy away when the prophecy was fulfilled, when she witnessed the torture and execution of her only Son.  What enabled her to be so strong were not only her humility and obedience, but also her ability to see the big picture, her objectivity.  St. Mary took Jesus at His word when He said that His death would be a ransom for many (Mark 10:45); so rather than focusing on her own pain in seeing Him suffer, she was able to consider what this pain was accomplishing.

            Many mothers have no sense of objectivity and raise their children as if pain avoidance for their children is life’s highest goal to achieve.  No mater that their child’s comfort means that others suffer, or that their failure to punish their little ones means justice is never served and their children never learn the adult lesson that bad actions result in bad consequences.  Such mothers go through life with a moral code that is flexible, one to which all others must adhere but that their own children can bend.  The objective truth of a situation is never their concern, only what they think is best for their child.  This caricature would be funny if were not so common, if it were not warping so many young lives.

            In looking to Mary, mothers can see a woman concerned for what was good for everyone, even if that greatest good meant that her own child should suffer.  They see in St. Mary a woman whose adherence to objective truth meant she was willing to watch her child suffer pain, even death, if it meant that this sacrifice would issue in life for others.  Mary’s emotions did not prevent her from persisting in being a good example to her Son.  Mary’s objectivity allowed her to suffer with her Son for the salvation of the world.

            This ability and willingness to suffer with her Son is the third way that Mary serves as an example to mothers today.  This willingness to suffer with the suffering is known as empathy, and St. Mary had it in abundance.  Where all the apostles except for John abandoned Jesus as He hung from the cross, His mother Mary stayed by His side, keeping a vigil at the foot of the cross as her Son slowly died.  She did not simply feel bad for what was happening to her Son, as I’m sure Peter and the apostles felt.  St. Peter was reduced to tears, but he still ran away and did not suffer with Jesus.  But Mary entered into Jesus’ suffering by suffering alongside Him.  No casual observer, St. Mary became a participant in our Lord’s Passion.

            Contrast our Blessed Mother’s empathy with the hesitancy that so many mothers today approach the prospect of suffering alongside their children.  It is well documented, for example, that about nine out of ten children diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome are aborted, killed not for the greater good—it is never licit to intentionally kill the innocent.  They are killed, rather, in large part because their mothers do not want to suffer with them, do not want to suffer alongside them.  Lacking empathy, and failing to look to the example of our empathetic Blessed Mother, these women do away with their own flesh and blood before they must suffer with them.  They imagine wrongly that they will preserve themselves from suffering by taking the life of the innocent.  Not only are they deceiving themselves, they aren’t thinking about eternity, either.  The same thing can be said of those are complicit in killing those who suffer birth defects such as spina bifida or cleft palates.

            The problem with this lack of empathy in such mothers is far bigger than the inability to see the objective value of human life.  Indeed, the problem is far bigger than their disobedience of God’s laws and the poor example they thus set.  The lack of empathy demonstrates a short-sightedness that blinds them to the joys that our willingness to suffer brings to the world.  Mothers who love their children do not suffer with them because they are gluttons for punishment.  Like our Blessed Mother, they suffer with the suffering because they look forward to the Resurrection, to the new life that such empathy brings to the world.  Thus, the greatest example that our Blessed Mother gave to all mothers was her faith.  From her faith proceeded her obedience and her love, for in faith she knew that her suffering was not in vain.  She know instead that every pang, every sting, every minute of lost sleep was aiding in the reconciliation of man to God.

            Pray then that all mothers follow closely the example of our Blessed Mother, that by faith they will lovingly suffer with the suffering that more may know the joy of life in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.