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Regnum Christi

Mary’s Child
January 1, 2007

“He was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb”

Mary, Mother of God
Father Jason Smith, LC

Luke 2:16-21
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I place myself in your presence. I believe in your presence here with me. Help me to be more attentive to your voice. You bring hope to my life. As I speak with you, fill my heart with love for you and my neighbor.

Petition: Mary, teach me how to pray.

1. A Child like Us. We have all seen figurines of the Christ Child: arms outstreched towards us, head cocked forward, wide-open eyes, a bushy head of hair. Every parent knows a newborn is nothing like this. Neither was Our Lord. He was completely dependent on Mary and Joseph for his every need. He was how we were as babies. He cried. He gurgled. He smiled. But he was God. This is the wonder Mary contemplated as she held him in her arms.

2. A Child for Others. No mother would like it if strangers entered her maternity ward just after giving birth. Surely Mary was not expecting a visit from shepherds, whom she had never met before. What a surprise this must have been for her. How unexpected! She realized from the start that this child was hers, but not only for herself. He had come into the world to save the world. For this reason, in what is normally an intimate, private moment between mother and child, she offers the Babe to the shepherds to be adored.

3. A Child for Us. If angels appeared to us, inviting us to go to the cave, would we go? Would we be as eager as the shepherds were to abandon the sheep? Or, as Saint Augustine writes, “to stoop our head in humility so as to enter into the cave and adore the Child” (Confessions)? Today Jesus is not a newborn in a cave. But the invitation for us to adore him still stands. He is present in the needs of the Church. He cries out to us in the needs of our neighbor.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, with all the faith I can muster, I ask you for the grace to live every day as if it were Christmas day. I want to be filled with wonder at the awesome reality that you became man for us, to redeem us. I want to be filled with the joy that comes from living for you alone. Like Mary, your mother and mine, may I always keep these marvels close to my heart.

Resolution: I will offer one decade of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary today for mothers everywhere.