20180908
MARY’S GIFT OF HER
LIFE TO THE CHURCH
08 SEPTEMBER,
2018, Saturday, Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
EITHER:
First reading
|
Micah 5:1-4 ©
|
He will stand and feed his flock with the power of
the Lord
|
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon
them
till the time when she who is to give
birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come
back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he
will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
OR:
Alternative First reading
|
Romans 8:28-30 ©
|
Those he called, he justified
|
We know that by turning everything to
their good, God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those he has
called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago
and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the
eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called
he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.
Responsorial Psalm
|
Psalm 12(13):6-7 ©
|
I exult for joy in the
Lord.
Lord, I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your
saving help.
I exult for joy in the
Lord.
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness
to me,
singing psalms to the name of
the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in the
Lord.
Gospel Acclamation
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of all praise,
for the sun of justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
Alleluia!
EITHER:
Gospel
|
Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 ©
|
The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ
|
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David,
son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his
brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah,
Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being
his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being
his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose
mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the
father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and
his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took
place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the
husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called
Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born.
His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph;
being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce
her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the
Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because
he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took
place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to
a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
OR:
Alternative Gospel
|
Matthew 1:18-23 ©
|
How Jesus Christ came to be born
|
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born.
His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph;
being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce
her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is
the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to
fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to
a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
MARY’S GIFT OF HER LIFE TO THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ MICAH 5:1-4 OR ROM 8:28-30; MATT 1:1-16. 18-23 ]
Today we celebrate the
birth of our Blessed Virgin Mary. In truth her birthday would not have been celebrated
if not for the fact that she is the mother of God. Indeed, birthdays are
only meaningful events when we are celebrating the gift of life and the gift of
love. The life that is given to us is not just for ourselves but it is
always for the good of others. As St Paul wrote in his letter to the
Romans, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If
we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then,
whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom 14:7f) So to be born and to live is
always for the Lord and His people.
Mary’s birth is
celebrated in the Church because she was already saved by the Lord at her
conception in the womb of St Anne.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception speaks of Christ’s salvific grace in His
passion, death and resurrection given to her in view of the fact that she would
be His mother. She was saved by the Lord by preemption rather than by
redemption. In other words, Christ’s grace protected her from being born
with the sin of Adam. In this way, her womb was a perfect sanctuary for the
Lord to dwell in. This is why Mary is also called the tabernacle of the
New Covenant, carrying the Lord Jesus in her womb.
But more importantly,
that Mary was a creature like us, giving birth to the Son of God, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity in the flesh, makes it possible for us to be saved. This is because as the second
reading explains, “They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended
to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many
brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified,
and with those he justified he shared his glory.” Jesus, by His coming in the
flesh, shows us our true identity as the sons and daughters of God. In
the letter to the Hebrews, we read that “For the one who sanctifies and those
who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason, Jesus is not
ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Heb 2:11)
The fact that the gospel
traced Jesus’ history to Abraham means that Jesus was a human person, with
flesh and blood. This authenticates the humanity of Jesus. It is important for the Church to
underscore Jesus’ true humanity so that we are truly saved in Christ. St
Paul’s letter to the Galatians says, “But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem
those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
children.” (Gal 4:4f) Unless
Jesus was a man, we cannot say that we can overcome our sins. We would
say that He was after all, divine and hence could do the Father’s will. But
because Jesus as a man was able to fulfill the divine will using His human
will, we too, with His grace, can do the same. We have no excuse that
salvation is not within our reach. Jesus has shown us the way.
“Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and
having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who
obey him.” (Heb 5:8f)
But Mary also served to
link Jesus to the history of salvation as the Messiah foretold to come. “The Lord says this: You
(Bethlehem), Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be
born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the
distant past, to the days of old.” This explains why the scriptures take
pains to trace His history to Joseph as His foster father in order to show that
He was the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah made to
humankind. It was Mary’s betrothal to Joseph that made it possible
to ground the messiahship of Jesus; that He was the One promised by God to save
us.
But for this to happen,
we need to thank Mary for saying “yes” to God to undertaking this role of being
the Mother of Christ and then later on as the Mother of the Church. We must bear in mind that Mary, like
Joseph, was betrothed in marriage. Perhaps Mary, like Joseph, thought
that marriage was the only possible vocation for her. Like everyone else,
Mary would have thought that getting married and having a family was the way to
live out the will of God for her. If that were so, then she must
have given up a lot to have a family. How many of us are willing to
abandon our preferences and our plans for the greater good of others? But that
was what Mary did. Her life was for God and for us.
Of course, there is also
the other tradition that suggests that perhaps Mary wanted to live a life of
virginity. This argument
derives from her question to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a
virgin?” Regardless whichever interpretation we favour, the point remains
that Mary cooperated with the plan of God for her. She was ready to do
whatever God willed for her. She was able to say “Yes”, knowing the
complexity ahead of her, the possible disbelief if she were to tell Joseph and
her parents and relatives that she was pregnant through the overshadowing of
the Holy Spirit; and perhaps, face ridicule, rejection by Joseph and worst of
all, be accused of committing adultery. We can imagine there would have
been a host of questions and uncertainties ahead. Yet, she in faith
said to the angel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) Mary
never put herself before God and His people. It was always God’s will
before her own plans.
Today, when we celebrate
the Birthday of Mary, we want to thank God for the gift of her life. She is the New Eve, as the Fathers
of the Church call her. Whilst Christ is seen as the New Adam who gave
life to all men, Mary too, by her obedience, brought life to us all in giving
us Jesus. Mary is truly the New Eve, for without her cooperation with the
grace of God, there would be no saviour. What is more, she cooperated
with God’s grace throughout her life; not just at the Annunciation. She
continued to give life to the Church and to her Son by supporting Him quietly
and unobtrusively by standing by Him, especially when everyone abandoned Him at
the cross. Mary shared in Jesus’ suffering and death and thus gave
herself totally to us in the offering of her Son for the salvation of humanity.
She was generous and forgiving towards those who killed her Son. Without
uttering grudges, just cries of grief, she joined Jesus in offering Himself for
the forgiveness of sins.
Mary continues to offer
herself to us by being not just the Mother of Christ but of the Church. She was with the Church in prayer
when the apostles waited for the descent of the Holy Spirit. She became
the mother of the Church when our Lord handed her over to John who was told to
make a place for her in his home. From that moment, Mary began to
exercise her motherly role in the Church by giving support to the
apostles. After her death and glorification, Mary continues to watch over
us and help us by her prayers so that we too can share the life of Christ and
be life-givers to others. With this assurance of her presence with
the Church, we can now do the same and be life-givers to others through the
sacrifice of our own lives.
Today, as we celebrate
her birthday, let us too make our life a vocation for the service of God and
our fellowmen.
Let us not live in vain, not even a single day. With devotion and
dedication, let us use our life, all our talents and resources for the glory of
God, for the salvation of humanity and the service of our fellowmen. We
have only one life and therefore we must do all we can, and expend ourselves
for the good of humanity so that we will never regret that we had not lived our
life meaningfully. We must learn from Mary and our Lord that we cannot be
living for ourselves if we are to find life. “For those who want to save
their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the
whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for
their life?” (Mk 8:35-37) With
Mary, we live fully by giving our life to all.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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