Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
Homily
[Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 67; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21]
A few weeks ago, members of our Archdiocesan Catholic Women’s League introduced me to an initiative called IWIN, which is an outreach to survivors of human trafficking here in Alberta. It began in 2019 in Calgary. In collaboration with human trafficking investigators, participants accompany survivors moving into wrap-around support services by providing them with backpacks filled with brand new essential items and a handwritten note of encouragement, solidarity, and support. Included in the backpack is also a bracelet of unique design. A matching bracelet is given to someone as a reminder to pray for that particular survivor, who remains anonymous. The CWL gifted me with one such bracelet, which I now keep in my chapel. Every time I enter there to pray, I see it and offer a prayer for God’s blessing of protection, renewal, and hope upon the individual who bears its match.
I share this with you as an example of the awareness, prayer, and action to which we are all called by the Jubilee Year of Hope, which was inaugurated by the Pope in Rome on Christmas Eve, and here in the Archdiocese last Sunday, and continues through the remainder of 2025. In biblical tradition, a jubilee year is a time not only to announce hope but also give it a real basis by confronting injustice and righting relationships. Think of the hope now carrying the survivors of human trafficking because of the new life and supportive relationships they have found through IWIN. Yet, human trafficking is just one egregious example among many of the exploitation and oppression of women, children, and men plaguing the global community. The Jubilee is a graced opportunity “to restore God’s justice in every aspect of life…,” with particular attention given to the plight of “the poor and dispossessed”[1] wherever they are encountered. The texts this morning from Sacred Scripture reveal the deepest motivation for all Christian action in the name of justice.
To put it succinctly, God’s Holy Word commands us to right wrongs and overcome injustice because all people are created to be children of our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ. This intention of God is described beautifully by Saint Paul in the passage given today from his letter to the Galatians. There he speaks of God sending His Son to liberate us from captivity to sin and adopt us as His children. The Holy Spirit, which God pours into our hearts, unites us to Jesus His Son and thus enables us to call upon God as our “Abba”, our Father. This means that, in the eyes of God, we are, each of us, of equal dignity and infinite value, and bound together in a wondrously deep familial bond. From this sonship and unity in Christ flows our responsibility to honour one another, and reach out through prayer and action to free those held captive by any form of injustice.
While St. Paul teaches primarily about our Heavenly Father, his words remind us that, in the family of God, we also have a Mother. He speaks of a “woman” of which God’s Son was born. We know her to be Mary. Our Mass today honours her as the Holy Mother of God, and rightly so. Since Jesus is properly God, the Second Person of the Trinity, she is justly hailed by the Church under that august title. At the same time, we can speak lovingly of her as our Mother, since our adoption by God makes us brothers and sisters of the son to whom she gave birth. When we turn to the Gospel, we see that she has something of vital importance to teach her children as we ponder the call of the Jubilee to overcome injustice and oppression.
Luke’s narrative describes the manger scene as a beehive of activity. Shepherds have come running to Bethlehem, and, one can imagine, are likely speaking with great enthusiasm about everything they had heard from the angels about a wondrous birth. This gives rise in turn to much excited chatter among those who were “amazed” by what the shepherds were saying. Yet, in the midst of the frenetic comings and goings, Mary remains deeply tranquil. We are told that she simply listened, “treasuring” and “pondering in her heart” everything she heard said about her newborn child.
Therein lies the lesson. All action in the name of justice must begin with a deep listening to what the Word of God says about Jesus, and, of course, to what Jesus himself tells us. Otherwise, we risk falling into a self-generated activism that yields no lasting results. As we are reminded by the Book of Numbers today, we live from God’s blessing. Our witness and action will bear fruit in the overcoming of injustice and restoring of relationships only if they begin from God’s initiative and are carried forward in the power of His blessing. This requires that we, like Mary, receive the grace of a still and tranquil heart that ponders deeply and treasures lovingly God’s Holy Word, together with the direction and hope it gives.
As we prepare to step into a new year, the Jubilee Year of Hope, and aware of our constant need for the blessing of God, let us turn now to the altar of the Lord. Here, Jesus, the Son of God born of Mary, fills us with that blessing by the gift of himself. May the grace of communion in his love and mercy make us joyful and effective agents of justice and hope to all in need.
Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Saint Joseph Basilica
January 1st, 2025
[1] MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE LVIII WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1st JANUARY 2025