From the Pastor's Desk for December 29, 2024

Happy New Year! In a few days we celebrate a new year and a wonderful feast day - the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Concluding the octave of Christmas, this holy day reminds us that Mary carried Almighty God in her immaculate womb. As we start the 2025th Year of Our Lord, may we strive to give God a year unblemished by sin.

In Greek we call Mary the “theotokos” in honor of her being the Mother of God. “Theo” in Greek means “God” just like in “theology” (which means “an account of God”) whereas “tokos” means “mother,” especially one who is pregnant. The Church Fathers gave Mary this title to demonstrate that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Accordingly, when Mary was carrying Jesus, she was carrying the Godhead. In one of his many poems, St. Ephraim wrote that the True Light of the Cosmos chose Mary to hold Him in the darkness of her womb.

St. Augustine invites us to imitate Mary’s motherhood by giving birth to Christ in others. We give such spiritual rebirth to other souls whenever we help them deepen their life with God. Announcing the Good News that Our Savior has been born, encouraging those weighed down by sin, and offering up our Holy Communions for the conversion of sinners are great ways to pay tribute to Our Mother Mary.

That last method may seem less glamorous, but it is often the most effective. All too often we become fixated on what we can see and not what God is doing deep within us. After all grace is always hidden from sight although we can detect its effects and consequences. Just as we come to know that a new life is growing within a pregnant woman, the new Christian life needs to grow in us before it can be shown to others.

Sts. Augustine and Ephraim would both remind us that Mary had more grace after she gave birth than before. With every act of devotion to her Son, charity increased. In fact, some saints have held - as I do - that Mary exceeded all others in grace individually and altogether. Since we have no way of measuring grace, it is not too fruitful an argument to have. What such speculations do aid, however, is our appreciation of what we can to improve.

What will we each change in 2025? Will we find time to read Sacred Scripture daily? Will we spend more time before the Blessed Sacrament? Will we choose a day each week to fast from food? From social media? Whatever change we resolve to make, let us make it for Love. Our Lady desires that we, her beloved children, become more like her beloved Son. May we not disappoint so glorious a mother.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John