January 1, 2012 at Saint Mark Catholic Church in Norman, OK
Number 6: 22-27 + Psalm 67 + Galatians 4: 4-7 + Luke 2: 16-21
In a few minutes we are going to stand and recite the Creed of Nicea. The words of that Creed were chosen through long discussions, study, argument, political maneuvering, and every other means we humans have for coming to some common expression of things we hold dear. “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, consubstantial with Father……” all in a feeble attempt to express in words the divine mystery and the truth of the Incarnation.
It is tragically true, I believe, that human nature when confronted with something beyond itself attempts to thologize, philosophize, or analyze. The first thing we seem to do when we come upon something new that we do not understand is drop in a test tube and begin to try and break it down into parts that we can then analyze, understand, and somehow control or reproduce if it would be in our interest and profit to do so.
This feast of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, (You have to say the whole thing: “Mary Mother of God” in order to get to the point of this feast) draws us to important truths of our faith without trying to explain them. But for a minute or two, let’s think about it. Calling Mary the “Mother of God” expresses our belief that Jesus was not just adopted by God and raised up to some kind of divine status. This feast insists that Mary’s son had a fully divine nature from the beginning, and that even with two natures, Jesus Christ is One, a singular being, with Mary as his mother. Now if that is not complicated, I don’t know what is: and if it’s complicated for us to imagine or figure out, imagine what it meant and what is was like for the Blessed Mother! It’s hard enough to figure out when you’re just a disciple. Image what it was like to be involved in the whole thing to begin with!
Think of it: neighboring shepherds show up to see the new-born child reporting what had been revealed to them about this child. Imagine a choir of angels singing God’s praises! I suspect it was a rather large choir that could have been heard if someone reported it! What in the world was she to think? Well, Luke tells what happened and how she handled it. “She kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Instead of insisting that she understand it, find words to express it, and then accept and approve it all, Luke says that she entered the mystery comtemplatively; and it might make better sense for us to do the same.
From that contemplative place, we might be in a better position to reflect and wonder about this cosmic event that made heavenly hosts praise God over something that occured through a couple of poor pilgrims and a stable of a small town. Wondering about that might make us more sensitive to all kinds of little ways that grace abounds and how strangely God works in the most ordinary of things. It might open us to a deeper discovery of how God is revealed in the homeless, the poor, the helpless, and in something as common and ordinary as the birth of a child; which is probably for those who have experienced it, the closest they have ever come to God.
I have come to believe in my long and years of the priesthood that the wisdom of this feast and it’s date on the calendar is not so much an affirmation of our faith in the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ as it is an invitation to wonder, to imagine, and most of all to rememember what it is we have just celebrated a week ago today lest in taking down all the decorations to store away for another eleven months, we forget that something has happened to us, something has been born or awakened in us, something is a little different about us. Understanding it, expressing it clearly, or explaining it is not the issue at all; but kowing it in our hearts, and refleting upon it from time to time may very well change the way we look at oneanother, and perhaps sooner rather than later, “Peace on Earth” may be more than a few words in an angelic hymn or a verse printed on another Christmas Card. Brothers and Sister, Peace Be With You!