Mary The Mother of God

Improving relationships is consistently ranked right up there with losing weight and getting more exercise as popular New Year’s resolutions. It is no surprise because meaningful relationships with the ones we love are essential for enjoying life, and they need constant care and attention. 

To prepare for this sermon, I Googled suggestions on how to improve relationships. There were dozens of recommendations. One was to have realistic expectations. Don’t expect just one or a few friendships to satisfy all your needs. Every relationship will have conflict, so we shouldn’t be surprised when it occurs. Be flexible in your relationships, experts tell us. Don’t get in a rut. Meaningful friendships need us to be dependable and accountable to each other. Remember that relationships are a process that ebbs, flows, and grows over time. 

Today’s scripture readings have some good relationship-building suggestions too. The Book of Numbers is the source of today’s first reading, and along with Leviticus, outline the Law of Moses. Truthfully, they are boring books of the Bible, full of legal ordinances and rules the Israelites were supposed to follow to nurture their relationship with God when they entered the Promised Land. I wouldn’t suggest anyone begin their study of the Bible reading either one.  

But they have some good kernels of advice on building a relationship with God. Along with warnings against eating shellfish and instructions on how to purify dishes between meal courses are today’s poetic instructions to the Levitical priests on how to bless the Chosen People and help them to understand the relationship God wants to have with them. 

God instructed Moses to have the priests bless the people by saying:

The Lord bless you and keep you!

The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

God wanted the Chosen People to know God’s desire to bless them and give them every good gift. God desired the people to know their well-being was His concern. God wanted the people to know His love for them and to understand God’s goodness. God wanted them to experience peace. This peace was not just the absence of war and conflict but a complete sense of integrity and tranquility. 

Since God included this blessing among the precepts of the Law, many Israelites interpreted God’s blessings and love to depend on their obedience to the Law. When hardship and suffering descended on the people, the prophets attributed it to their failure to be faithful to the Mosaic Law. The prophets preached that God was punishing them due to their unfaithfulness to God and the Law. They urged the people to return to authentic obedience to all God’s precepts. 

Paul told the Galatians that the birth of Jesus had changed the understanding a loving relationship with God depending on keeping rules. Now followers of Jesus could rely on a relationship with God’s faithful love even in the face of sin. Paul preached that since the days of Moses, humanity had matured and no longer needed to be slavishly obedient to the Law. Paul preached the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross had ransomed humanity from the burden of slavery to following the Law. Jesus’ obedience to God’s plan for us allows humankind to experience a relationship as God’s adopted sons and daughters that the Holy Spirit nurtures in our souls. 

Our celebration today of Mary as the Mother of God gives us an example of living out that kind of close relationship with God. From the moment of her Immaculate Conception, without original sin, Mary was blessed with a special relationship with God. Despite her unique role, Mary had the free will to choose or not to choose to cooperate with God. 

At the Annunciation of the coming birth of Jesus, Mary was faithful to her call to be the Mother of God and said yes to bringing Jesus into our world. Mary followed her role out of love for God and not compulsion. Mary, throughout her life, would be faithful to God even in the face of suffering, pain, and loss. She faced challenges in her relationship with God during Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Challenges would continue as the Holy Family fled persecution and danger as they traveled to Egypt to protect the infant Jesus from Herod’s wrath. Throughout her life, Mary withstood many trials as the Mother of God. She could model a loving relationship with God because she reflected on God’s actions in her life. As Luke said in today’s gospel, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

Maybe your experience of God isn’t one of love and caring. I recently read an article in America Magazine written by Jim McDermott, S.J. I highly recommend parishioners subscribing to America. I find it a very well-written and informative publication. McDermott wrote that he had Googled the phrase "Why does God..." to see how the search engine would automatically complete the sentence. He said he was saddened to see the third most common inquiry was, “Why does God hate me?” 

God’s love is not the experience of everyone. Right now, many people experience tremendous suffering and pain, and the circumstances of their lives make it impossible to feel God’s love. Instead, their experience of God is one of punishment, being ignored, or neglected, and not of love. God seems remote and distant from them.

McDermott said online responses to the question ran along two themes. They came from people who tried to disabuse the inquirer with pious platitudes, or from those who agreed God was vengeful and horrible, and the inquirer must eliminate any thought of a deity from their minds.  

McDermott wrote that it is important not to dismiss those in pain who believe God has abandoned them. He said if someone asks a question about God’s love for them, they have not abandoned God and seek a sincere relationship with God. They want to believe and change their circumstances to find peace in life. Deep in their soul, they believe it is only in God that they can find rest. 

McDermott suggested an activity he found useful during an earlier time of pain he experienced in life. He proposed sitting for fifteen minutes and considering a scene or something we find beautiful. Yes, it won’t be easy to keep the thought of our current situation from trying to rush in, but when it does, refocus. Do that often to help manage your suffering.

If you are a more religious person, try to contemplate sitting next to God and let yourself see God smiling at you. The smile shouldn’t be one of pity but one that makes you feel God thinks you are the center of the world. Let God’s smile make you feel His warmth and concern. Do that while feeling abandoned, and you will feel God’s presence come more closely into your life.

Make a New Year’s Resolution to nurture and live a new relationship with God in 2023. Like your human relationships, have realistic expectations. Don’t expect God to crash in and rectify all your trials and suffering. Do expect God to accompany you in crisis. Expect God to give you the strength to deal with all your worries.

Be flexible in your relationship with God and look for new and varied ways God speaks to you and encourages your faithful growth. Be dependable and accountable in your prayer life. Your prayer relationship with God can’t be limited to demanding God satisfy your expectations and your perceived needs. A relationship of love for God needs your daily attention. Don’t expect God to do all the work. Having our prayers answered is a two-way street. Let yourself learn to do God’s will and not just your own. Remember that growing in a relationship with God is a process that evolves. 

Look back at the end of each day to find how God has worked with you. It may be that he has helped you recognize sin more clearly. Hopefully, God will help you see your goodness, and you will feel encouraged to practice it more faithfully. If we look, we will see how God works with us to make the Kingdom of God more visible in our midst. 

Maybe the Covid pandemic, creeping secularization in our society, or other factors have damaged your relationship with God. Counteract those tendencies with a renewed commitment to prayer. If prayer isn’t a part of your daily life, begin making it. You can start with as little as ten minutes every day. Find the time and a place where you can find quiet and listen to God. There is no need to know set prayers. Listening is the key. After a few days, extend your prayer time by a few minutes. 

Read scripture to help focus your prayer. You have heard me say don’t start reading the Bible cover to cover like you would an ordinary book. I often encourage parishioners to begin with the Book of the Acts of the Apostles or one of the Gospels. This year we are reading the Gospel of Matthew at weekend masses. 

Most importantly, be close to the Eucharist. As Catholics, we believe it is the Real Presence of Christ in our midst and is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the sum and summit of our faith. Resolve to fulfill your weekend mass obligation and maybe consider attending our 8 am daily mass as often as possible. 

Many people do not attend church because they have never experienced someone who had a real relationship with God. They are waiting for people such as you and me to model a relationship for them. Maybe they are waiting for the blessing of your hand to start the journey to a faithful relationship with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How can you help that to happen over this year? 

As we begin a new year, I pray:

The Lord bless you and keep you!

The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!