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.
Today is the feast of Mary, Mother of God. Why do we celebrate this feast? The answer is because of basic biology. When a woman gives birth to a child, we know that, that makes her the mother of that child. The Man Jesus Christ, received half of His genes from the Holy Spirit, and half of His genes come from Mary. This is not a difficult mystery to understand, but our protestant brothers and sisters struggle mightily with this fact. I think that it is, not necessarily because of the fact of motherhood, but rather because of the praise that we, in the catholic church, give Mary.
So in an effort to help explain this mystery further, I would like to recount a reflection on this reality, that my parish pastor gave at mass. It is ultimately a reflection by pope Benedict… that was given several decades ago. It goes like this… The moon is a great light in the night sky, but it does not generate its own light. It is an otherwise desolate grey rock floating in space, but because of the sun, on the sunny side of the planet, the moon is able to reflect light onto the other side, the side would be otherwise be cast in darknes during the night. The moon, in the night sky, is glorious, but only because it is simply reflecting completely the glory of the sun.
Just so with Mary. She is the only human being other than Adam and Eve, that was born without sin. The difference between them and her, is that she never chose sin ever in her life. All her life she never took any glory for herself, she always redirected (reflected) all glory to Jesus. She is just like the moon, in that she only ever reflects the total goodness of God in the “son” Jesus christ…to the world, and she does it perfectly. It is because of this fact that we reverence Mary so highly. Not because of her light, or her goodness, but because she perfectly reflects the Lord in everything she does. And so, in reverencing her, we are only reverencing the light she is reflecting to us, the light of Christ. And Mary never takes any of our praise unto herself, but instead redirects all of our praise and worship of that light, perfectly and obediently to Jesus. She is like the moon that brings the light of Christ into the dark places, where the light would otherwise be kept out, and in-so-doing points all of the glory (not to herself) but to Him.
You and I are also called to be like Mary and reflect the light of Christ to all the world, and to redirect any praise you get ultimately to Jesus. The more you can accomplish this task, the more closely you will come to being that person that God willed you to be from the very beginning. We should all strive to copy the life that Mary modeled for us, and be the moon for all of those that God has put in your life to lead and guide, and to reflect the light fo God to them. Amen.
