Numbers 6:22-27 / Galatians 4:4-7 / Lk 2:16-21
Today is a special day in terms of the time-line of the events in our lives.
Today we begin a new year. We look at what lies ahead of us, and we wonder what it will be like.
Yet we can look back at the not-so-old year, and we can see what it had been like.
So as we look at what lies before us and what lies behind us, the Church invites us to look at Mary.
Yes, we look at Mary and we ponder with her.
On the 8th day of the Christmas Octave, the Church celebrates Mary’s earliest defining title – Mother of God.
That title goes all the way back to the year 432, and that title tells us who Mary is.
Yet more importantly it also tells us who Jesus is.
Because by proclaiming that Mary is the Mother of God, the Church is also proclaiming that Jesus is God, and therefore Mary is the Mother of God.
So what is it like to be the Mother of God?
Well, a story has it that a wife had just given birth to her first child, and her happy husband was with her by her bedside.
Her husband asked her : My dear, what was child-birth like?
She thought for a while, and she looked at him and said :
Ok, smile as broadly as you can. Then use two fingers to pull the corners of the mouth as far back as you can.
Then pull your upper lip over your head. That’s probably how it feels like.
So being the Mother of God is certainly not without pain or suffering.
From the Annunciation to the Crucifixion, Mary had her share of pain and suffering.
Yet it is through this pain and suffering that she, as the Mother of God, can teach us something.
You know, as kids, we liked to cross our eyes and look stupid, and our mothers would tell us that if we keep doing that, then one day we might just end up permanently cross-eyed.
Well, Mother Mary is also telling us to stop crossing our eyes and becoming self-centered.
She is telling us to keep our eyes on Jesus and walk towards Him.
That was what she did when she said at the Annunciation : Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Your will.
So just as she kept her eyes on the Lord, Mary is also telling us to keep our eyes on Jesus.
Because the moment we take our eyes off Jesus, we will just end up cross-eyed!
Also, from our earliest days, our mothers have taught us a peculiar kind of logic, and it goes like this :
If you don’t do what I tell you, you will get it.
Well, Mother Mary wants to teach us a holy logic and it’s this:
Do whatever He tells you, and you will get it.
That was what she told the servants at the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you”, and they got it. They saw who Jesus was.
Well, not all mothers are scientists, but they seem to know something about genetics.
I am sure that we have heard our mothers say this to us : You are just like your father!!! It is usually out of exasperation!
Well, Mother Mary is telling each of us : You are just like my Son!
But that actually came from Jesus Himself. On the cross, Jesus told His mother – That is your son.
So we are all Mary’s children. And Mary is our mother.
Because that’s also what Jesus said on the cross – This is your mother.
So it is not too mushy or too funny to think that Mother Mary will say to us – You are just like my Son.
Because the 2nd reading tells us that God has sent the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts.
So like Mother Mary, we ponder and treasure.
What lies behind us and what lies before us cannot be compared with what lies within us.
Yes, we have the Spirit of Jesus within us.
So let us give thanks and praise the Lord all the days of the year ahead.
May we also devote ourselves to the motherly care and guidance of Mary.
And may the Lord bless us and keep us.
May He shine His face on us and be gracious to us.
And may He grant us His peace in the days ahead.