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MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. Solemnity. HAPPY NEW YEAR Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Elizabeth proclaims: “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43. Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position in God’s redemptive plan. Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’” helps us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Some theologians also insist that Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s “first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all eternity to be his mother. The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth century. . In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times. --------------------------------------- HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE. Lk 2:16-21 They found Mary and Joseph and the infant. When the eight days were completed, he was named Jesus. ✠ The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem 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. ----------------------------------------------- IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, Pray for us. CHASTE HEART OF ST. JOSEPH, Protect us. SACRED HEART OF JESUS, Have mercy on us. MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, Save us and the whole world. Amen. Glory to the FATHER, and to the SON, and to the HOLY SPIRIT, As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.