20200908 PREDESTINATION
08 September, 2020, Tuesday, Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
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.
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!
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.’
PREDESTINATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [MICAH 5:1-4; OR ROM 8:28-30; MATT 1:1-16. 18-23]
Today, we celebrate the birthday of our Blessed Mother. The other only birthday the Church celebrates is that of John the Baptist. Other than these two birthdays, the Church only celebrates the spiritual rebirth of saints on their death anniversary. In celebrating the birthdays of Mary and John the Baptist, the Church wants to highlight the significant roles they play in announcing and preparing for the coming of Christ, the Redeemer of the human race. John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Messiah. Mary was of course the mother of the Saviour. Without Mary, there would be no Christ. It is for this reason that the Church celebrates her birthday, not so much to honour her but to underscore her role in bringing Jesus into the world.
Indeed, birthdays are meaningful only because we are celebrating how this person would one day be a life-giver to others or how the person has given us life. Commemorating birthdays has no meaning if it is just celebrating the anniversary of a person’s birth, unless that person by his or her life has brought benefits to humanity and made a difference in our lives. Birthdays are more than merely a celebration of one’s birth but how through our birth and life, we bring joy and love to others by the way we live. Mary’s birth is particularly significant because the life that God gave to her was not given in vain. On the contrary, she lived a blessed life and became a blessing for all generations.
Indeed, for us as well, we are all predestined to play our role and part in the salvation of humanity according to the plan of God. St Paul wrote, “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.” In his letter to the Ephesians, he also said, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Eph 1:4-6) All of us therefore are predestined to bear the image of His Son and share in Christ’s sonship as He is the first-born among us. Indeed, like Christ, we are all chosen and destined to live a holy life, to be blameless and life-giving to all in love and service.
It is important to be clear from the outset that the grace of God given to all requires also our cooperation and the response of our free will. Mary received the grace of being immaculately conceived for her special role of being the mother of the Savior. St Paul reiterated this when he wrote, “He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.” Christ justified His mother by exemption in view of the grace and merits gained from His passion, death and resurrection. Mary played her role and cooperated fully with the plan of God. Throughout her life, she responded to the grace of God that she received. In every situation each day of her life, she sought to do God’s holy will. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38)
We can be sure that it was not easy for Mary even with the grace received to respond to God’s will at every moment of her life, from the angel’s annunciation of her call to be the mother of the Saviour, her difficulties in explaining the pregnancy to Joseph, her flight to Egypt when under persecution, the rejection of her Son during His ministry and most of all, grieving with Him at His passion and death on the cross. Mary shared in Christ’s sonship when she bore her Son in her heart and in her womb, and become the mediatrix of all graces of Christ.
However, this is not always the case for us. Although we have received the grace of God, we do not always respond positively to Him. We choose our own will instead of His. We prefer sin to living a life of holiness. We prefer the pleasures and glory of the world to seeking the glory of God and His kingdom. We are not always life-giving in the way we live. We live for ourselves instead of for others. In other words, we do not live out the plan of God in our lives, which is an invitation to fulfill the role He has given to us for the good of our fellowmen. When we do not live out our vocation in life, we are not living to the fullest and making use of the gifts God has given to us. Our life will be less than fulfilling because we delimit the grace of God from working in and through us.
Yet, today’s scripture readings give us hope that we cannot derail God’s plan regardless of sin. God is greater than our sins. So long as we are ready to repent, God will continue to make use of us for His greater glory. St Paul wrote, “We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose.” Indeed, in the genealogy of our Lord in today’s gospel, the family tree of Jesus was not always that great. Jesus did not come from an immaculate and praiseworthy lineage throughout history. On the contrary, Jesus came from a long line of good people and sinners, and even evil ancestors and kings. Some of the women listed were prostitutes and men who committed sexual immorality. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah. Jacob cheated the birthright from his brother, Esau.
Yet God shows that His grace prevails at the end of the day. Man can turn against Him and commit evil. God has His ways to turn around the evil we do. He makes use of our sins to bring forth greater grace. He writes straight in crooked lines. He will bring a greater good out of evil. Through our mistakes, God will purify us and make us stronger in faith. This is why we must not be discouraged or give up hope on ourselves if we have turned away from the Lord and lived a sinful and self-centered life. All we need to do is to turn back to God and He will use our sinful past to build a better future for us and for humanity. We must not forget how the Lord transformed the life of St Paul from a persecutor of the faith to be the great apostle to the Gentile. This was why St Paul wrote, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Rom 5:20) So even if we have a rotten history and a messy past, the Lord will use them for a greater good.
Hence, we must draw towards Mary and ask her to teach us to be also true images of Christ, her Son. We must ask Mary to teach us how to give birth to Jesus in our heart so that we too can carry the image of Christ in us, and become, like Mary, the tabernacle of our Lord. Indeed, by His incarnation, the promise of God to be our Emmanuel, His presence among us, is fulfilled both in the incarnation, in the Eucharist and in the ecclesiastical community. Jesus lives among us even today in our fellowmen and especially in the Eucharist so that we can truly say that we too “become true images of his Son.” This is what it means when the angel said, “The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.”
Only Mary can lead us to the prince of peace. So on her birthday, let us spend some time contemplating on her life of humility, obedience and charity. Her life has always been one of obedience to God’s will. She lived a life of purity, chastity and devotion to God’s will. She did not keep the grace of God for herself but shared it with others. Her whole life was to bring joy to others as she did when she visited Elizabeth and brought Jesus to her and her son, John the Baptist. At the Wedding at Cana, she saved the couple from embarrassment when they ran short of wine. At the foot of the cross, Mary stood underneath, helpless but yet helpful in giving strength and courage to her Son as He hung on the cross. She was always giving support to the disciples of Jesus. She gathered them for prayers at the Upper Room to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Mary remains our model of faith and love.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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