Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Feast of the Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Friends, today we celebrate
the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And our Gospel declares that she will be the Mother of Jesus,
who would be “God with us.”

Mary is a rich and multivalent symbolic figure in all of the Gospels.
In Luke’s infancy narrative, she emerges as the spokesperson for ancient Israel,
speaking, in her Magnificat,
in the words and cadences of Hannah.

In Matthew’s Christmas account,
she is compelled to go into exile in Egypt
and is then called back to her home,
recapitulating thereby the journey of Israel from slavery to freedom.
She is thus the symbolic embodiment of faithful and patient Israel,
longing for deliverance.

In John’s Gospel, she is, above all, mother—the physical mother of Jesus and,
through him, the mother of all who would come to new life in him.
As mother of the Lord, she is, once again, Israel,
that entire series of events and system of ideas from which Jesus emerged
and in terms of which he alone becomes intelligible.
Hans Urs von Balthasar commented in the same vein
that Mary effectively awakened the messianic consciousness of Jesus
through her recounting of the story of Israel to her son.

Mi 5:1-4a
The LORD says:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah, one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
And the rest of his brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.)
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
And they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.

Matthew 1
+++Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means "God is with us."+++

Well...
The Bishop's point about the Messiah returning to Egypt,
namely "Israel"
as a recapitulation to gather up Israel in an Exodus redux-
was meant to focus on a deliverance from bondage,
As well as bondage from sin.

Obviously, the Egypt the first family went to,
was also under Roman Empire occupation too...
So your temptation to dismiss the awesome parallel initiated by God,
needs to take that into account,
as well as the fact the in the end,
rising Christian influence in Rome
did contribute to finally conquering that oppression.
It just took some time.
Never surrender.

You write: The Bishop’s point about the Messiah returning to Egypt,namely “Israel” as a recapitulation to gather up Israel in an Exodus redux-was meant to focus on a deliverance from bondage, As well as bondage from sin.
Wow, you really had to strain on that one. The deliverance from sin came on the Cross, not as a result of a voyage to Egypt.

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