Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 01-01-06, Solemnity,Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother Of God

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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From: Numbers 6:22-27

Blessing by Priests

[22] The Lord said to Moses, [23] "Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall
bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, [24] The Lord bless you
and keep you: [25] The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious
to you: [26] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
[27] "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and will bless
them."

Commentary:

6:23-27. This is one of the earliest blessing formulae that the Bible has
conserved for us. It is referred to in some psalms (cf. Ps 31:17; 67:2;
etc.) and it was used by priests in the temple liturgy. It consists of
three petitions, each beginning with the name of the Lord. Some ancient
authors saw in this triple invocation an advance announcement of the Blessed
Trinity. It goes on to pray for protection, grace and peace--three gifts
which sum up man's aspirations and which God alone can provide in all their
fullness.

The Church carries on the tradition of blessing the faithful during
liturgical ceremonies, especially at the end of the eucharistic celebration,
beseeching God to show them his favor. The Roman Missal includes this text as
one of the optional blessings the priest can use at the end of Mass.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Galatians 4:4-7

Divine Sonship

[4] But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of
woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are
sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,
"Abba! Father!" [7] So through God you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then an heir.

Commentary:

6. Abba is an Aramaic word which has come down to us with its
translation "Father". As can be deduced from Mt 14:36 (cf. note on Lk
11:1), this is the same word as our Lord used in his personal prayer.
However, it is not a word ever used by Jews to address God, probably
because it contains the kind of trust and tenderness that small
children have in their dealings with their father. Jesus, however, did
not hesitate to use it and to encourage his followers to use it. In
this way he invites us to relate to God with the trust and tenderness
of a child towards its father--as well he might, because by redeeming
us Christ not only freed us from the yoke of the Law but enabled us to
have a new relationship to God, to be God's sons and daughters. St Paul
echoes this teaching (cf. also Rom 8:16-17) and attributes to the Holy
Spirit that movement in man's heart which impels him to cry out, full
of love and hope, "Abba! Father!"

This all means that "if we have a constant relationship with the Holy
Spirit, we shall become spiritual ourselves, we shall realize that we
are Christ's brothers and children of God, and we shall not hesitate
to call upon our Father [...]. Words cannot go so far as the heart,
which is moved by God's goodness. He says to us, 'You are my son.' Not
a stranger, not a well-treated servant, not a friend--that would be a
lot already. A son! He gives us free access to treat him as sons, with
a son's piety and I would even say with the boldness and daring of a
son whose Father cannot deny him anything" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 136 and 185).

In this verse we can see the roles of the three Divine Persons in man's
supernatural life. The Father sends the Holy Spirit, here called "the
Spirit of his Son", to help us activate our gift of divine sonship.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 2:16-21

The Adoration of the Shepherds (Continuation)

[16] And they (the shepherds) went with haste, and found Mary and
Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. [17] And when they saw it they
made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child;
and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
[19] But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
[20] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all
they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The Circumcision of Jesus

[21] And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was
called Jesus, the name given by the angels before he was conceived in
the womb.

Commentary:

15-18. The birth of the Savior Messiah is the key event in the history
of mankind, but God wanted it to take place so quietly that the world
went about its business as if nothing had happened. The only people he
tells about it are a few shepherds. It was also to a shepherd, Abraham,
that God gave his promise to save mankind.

The shepherds make their way to Bethlehem propelled by the sign they
have received. And when they verify it they tell what they heard from
the angel and about seeing the heavenly host. They are the first
witnesses of the birth of the Messiah. "The shepherds were not content
with believing in the happy event which the angel proclaimed to them
and which, full of wonder, they saw for a fact; they manifested their
joy not only to Mary and Joseph but to everyone and, what is more, they
tried to engrave it on their memory. 'And all who heard it wondered at
what the shepherds told them.' And why would they not have wondered,
seeing on earth him who is in heaven, and earth and heaven reconciled;
seeing that ineffable Child who joined what was heavenly--divinity--and
what was earthly--humanity--creating a wonderful covenant through this
union. Not only were they in awe at the mystery of the Incarnation, but
also at the great testimony born by the shepherds, who could not have
invented something they had not heard and who publish the truth with a
simple eloquence" (Photius, "Ad Amphilochium", 155).

16. The shepherds hasten because they are full of joy and eager to see
the Savior. St Ambrose comments: "No one seeks Christ halfheartedly"
("Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam., in loc."). Earlier on, the
evangelist observed that our Lady, after the Annunciation, "went in
haste" to see St Elizabeth (Lk 1:39). A soul who has given God entry
rejoices that God has visited him and his life acquires new energy.

19. In very few words this verse tells us a great deal about our Lady.
We see the serenity with which she contemplates the wonderful things
that are coming true with the birth of her divine Son. She studies
them, ponders them and stores them in the silence of her heart. She is
a true teacher of prayer. If we imitate her, if we guard and ponder in
our hearts what Jesus says to us and what he does in us, we are well on
the way to Christian holiness and we shall never lack his doctrine and
his grace. Also, by meditating in this way on the teaching Jesus has
given us, we shall obtain a deeper understanding of the mystery of
Christ, which is how "the Tradition that comes from the Apostles makes
progress in the Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a
growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed
on. This comes about in various ways. It comes through the
contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their
hearts. It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which
they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have
received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the
sure charism of truth" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 8).

21. On the meaning and rite of circumcision, see the note on Lk 1:59.
"Jesus" means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation", that is, Savior.
This name was given the Child not as the result of any human decision
but in keeping with the commandment of God which the angel
communicated to the Blessed Virgin and to St Joseph (cf. Lk 1:31; Mk
1:21).

The Son of God became incarnate in order to redeem and save all men; so
it is very fitting that he be called Jesus, Savior. We confess this in
the Creed: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven."
"There were indeed many who were called by this name [...]. But how
much more appropriate it is to call by this name our Savior, who
brought light, liberty and salvation, not to one people only, but to
all men, of all ages--to men oppressed, not by famine, or Egyptian or
Babylonian bondage, but sitting in the shadow of death and fettered by
the galling chains of sin and of the devil" ("St Pius V Catechism", I,
36).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Catholic Caucus: The 16 Days of Christmas (Christmas to the Baptism of the Lord)

Origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas [An Underground Catechism]

Origin of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" [Underground Catechism]

Journeying with the Magi

We will be glad to discuss the issue on with you on another thread. This thread is for the Sunday Readings and reflections, commentaries and homilies.

Happy New Year anyway.

Feast of Mary, Mother of God (not a Holy Day of Obligation this year-2004)

MARIAN DEVOTION - Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God

Mother of God

Virgin Mother of God

A Homily on the Dormition of Our Supremely Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The Mother of the Son: The Case for Marian Devotion

Mary, Mother of God

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Other Articles by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Mary, Mother of God

12/31/05

The mother of the Messiah has been called many things in the last 2000 years — the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. But call her “the Mother of God,” and you’ll see some Christians squirm.


This is nothing new. One day in the early fifth century, a priest preached a stirring sermon in the presence of the patriarch of Constantinople. His subject was the holy mother of Jesus. The preacher continually referred to Mary as the “Theotokos” meaning “God-bearer” or mother of God. This was no innovation — Christians had invoked Mary under this title for at least two hundred years. Nevertheless, at the close of the sermon, the patriarch ascended the steps of the pulpit to correct the preacher. We should call Mary the Mother of Christ, said Patriarch Nestorius, not the Mother of God. She was the mother of his human nature, not the mother of his divinity. His comment sparked a riot. And the dispute rocked not only the congregation, but the entire empire. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, immediately recognized that Nestorius’s Marian theology was a symptom of a much deeper problem, a problem with the Incarnation itself. For to deny Mary the title “Mother of God” makes of Jesus a dichotomy, a split personality. It would mean that God had not really embraced our humanity so as to become human. Rather, the humanity of Christ is hermetically sealed off from the divinity, as if Jesus were two persons, as if human nature was so distasteful that God, in Christ, had to keep it at arm’s distance. It is OK, according to Nestorius, to say that in Jesus, God raised Lazarus, or multiplied the loaves, or walked on water. But it is not OK to say that in Jesus God is born or that God died. Cyril, aware that this was a challenge to the heart of our faith, demanded that an ecumenical council be called to settle the matter. So in 431, the Council of Ephesus met, under Cyril’s leadership, and solemnly proclaimed that Mary is indeed rightly to be honored as the Theotokos, the Mother of God. It proclaimed that from the moment of His conception, God truly became man. Of course Mary is a creature and could never be the origin of the eternal Trinity, God without beginning or end. But the second person of the blessed Trinity chose to truly become man. He did not just come and borrow a human body and drive it around for awhile, ascend back to heaven, and discard it like an old car. No, at the moment of His conception in the womb of Mary, an amazing thing happened. God the Son united Himself with a human nature forever. Humanity and divinity were so closely bound together in Jesus, son of Mary, that they could never be separated again. Everything that would be done by the son of Mary would be the act both of God and of man. So indeed it would be right to say that a man raised Lazarus from the dead and commanded the wind and waves, that God was born that first Christmas day and that, on Good Friday, God died. The Council of Ephesus, once confirmed by the pope, became the third ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, and its teaching in this matter is dogma, truth revealed by God which all are bound to accept. So why does the Roman liturgy celebrate the Octave of Christmas as the Feast of Mary the Mother of God? Because this paradoxical phrase strikes at the very heart of Christmas. The songs we sing and the cards we write extol the babe of Bethlehem as Emmanuel, God-with-us. He is so with us that after Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin of Nazareth, the Divine Word can never again be divided from our humanity. What God has joined, let no man separate. Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation. (This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)

Sunday, January 1, 2006
Octave Day of Christmas: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21

Thou art blessed and venerable, O Virgin Mary, who with purity unstained wast found to be the Mother of our Saviour. Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world was unable to contain enclosed Himself in thy womb, being made man.

-- Gradual, Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1945

Happy New Year to all FReepers! May the Lord's blessing be with us all in 2006!

What lovely artwork on this first thread of the New Year! Thanks for posting.

From Today's Office of Readings

From a letter of St Athanasius - The Word took our nature from Mary

The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of “what will be born from you”, so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.

By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.

This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.

What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.

The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.

Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is for ever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.

Source: Universalis.com

Oh, and Happy New Year to all!

A blessed new year to you. Thanks for posting this!

Catholic Culture

Collect:
God our Father, may we always profit by the prayers of the Virgin Mother Mary, for you bring us life and salvation through Jesus Christ her Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

Activities:

Prayers:

January 01, 2006

Octave of Christmas and Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Holyday of Obligation USA)

Old Calendar: The Circumcision of Our Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, our Lady's greatest title. This feast is the octave of Christmas. In the modern Roman Calendar only Christmas and Easter enjoy the privilege of an octave. Before the Calendar was reformed this was the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord.

"Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wisdom." — Catechism of the Catholic Church 721

The Eighth Day of Christmas

Mary the Mother of God
Like the Churches of the East, Rome wished to honor the Virgin Mother of God during the days after Christmas. As a result the ("Anniversary of St. Mary") made its appearance on January 1 in the seventh century; it has accurately been called "the first Marian feast of the Roman liturgy." — The Church at Prayer

On New Year's Day, the octave day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. The divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singular salvific event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because "through her we have received the Author of life" (127).

The solemnity of 1 January, an eminently Marian feast, presents an excellent opportunity for liturgical piety to encounter popular piety: the first celebrates this event in a manner proper to it; the second, when duly catechised, lends joy and happiness to the various expressions of praise offered to Our Lady on the birth of her divine Son, to deepen our understanding of many prayers, beginning with that which says: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners".

In the West, 1 January is an inaugural day marking the beginning of the civil year. The faithful are also involved in the celebrations for the beginning of the new year and exchange "new year" greetings. However, they should try to lend a Christian understanding to this custom making of these greetings an expression of popular piety. The faithful, naturally, realize that the "new year" is placed under the patronage of the Lord, and in exchanging new year greetings they implicitly and explicitly place the New Year under the Lord's dominion, since to him belongs all time (cf. Ap 1, 8; 22,13)(128).

A connection between this consciousness and the popular custom of singing the Veni Creator Spiritus can easily be made so that on 1 January the faithful can pray that the Spirit may direct their thoughts and actions, and those of the community during the course of the year (129).

New Year greetings also include an expression of hope for a peaceful New Year. This has profound biblical, Christological and incarnational origins. The "quality of peace" has always been invoked throughout history by all men, and especially during violent and destructive times of war.

The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated "world day for peace".

Popular piety has not been oblivious to this initiative of the Holy See. In the light of the new born Prince of Peace, it reserves this day for intense prayer for peace, education towards peace and those values inextricably linked with it, such as liberty, fraternal solidarity, the dignity of the human person, respect for nature, the right to work, the sacredness of human life, and the denunciation of injustices which trouble the conscience of man and threaten peace.

Excerpted from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

The Circumcision of Our Lord

The old liturgy celebrated three feasts in one. The first was that which the old Roman sacramentaries called "the octave of the Lord", and indeed the greater part of the Mass was of the octave of Christmas with many extracts from the Masses of Christmas. Various portions of the Mass and Office celebrated the divine maternity of Mary. The third feast was that of the Circumcision which has been celebrated since the sixth century. Eight days after His birth Christ underwent, like all the Jews, this rite enjoined on Abraham by God as a pledge of his faith, and He received the name of Jesus.

When Our Lord submitted to the cut in His flesh at the Circumcision he began His work as Redeemer. He commenced that shedding of Blood which would reach its highest point of generosity in the Passion and Death.

In giving to Abraham the law of circumcision God bestowed on him his new name — Abraham. With the Jews henceforward the giving of a name had a spiritual significance; like circumcision it meant that the person belonged to the people of God. The bestowal of the name of Jesus has an even loftier significance: it is an assertion of His mission as Savior of the world.