Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin

Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/010111.shtml

“May the face of the Lord shine upon you!”

This is a blessing from the Old Testament, and is repeated twice today in the readings. I suppose it means “may the Lord focus His attention on you, and bring good things about in your cause.” But it takes on a different sense with the person of Jesus, because for Mary, the face of the Lord really did shine upon her. She held her child, and they looked into each others’ eyes and each face shone into the other.

This is what the Solemnity of Mary is about, the total role she played in the history of salvation. On this day, all the Church is required to go to Mass, to reflect on Mary and her son. The truth is, Mary brought about all that God asked of her; she gave birth to the savior, named Him Jesus, and raised Him with love and devotion. Yet even while she was a parent, she the first believer and reflected on all things concerning Jesus in her heart.

Mary had the unique position of reflecting as a follower of the teacher He would be, and one responsible for keeping Him safe. She was the mother of God. One would need to reflect a great deal in that position.

But her motherhood brought so many things to pass, chiefly that we all might be sons and daughters of God. Jesus was born to Mary under the old Jewish covenant; in His death, He made his body and blood a new covenant with God, one that would bind believers in Him for eternity. When Christ enters our hearts, we are adopted under the new covenant, and heirs to the old promise. God grants us salvation because we are His sons, and also because Mary is our mother.

Mary is the mother of Jesus, and so is the mother of the Church. As Jesus shown His face upon her so intimately, so she is a reflection of Him. All saints are a reflection of God, because God has shown His face upon them as they “reflected on him in their hearts.” But Mary is most so, because of her proximity to Jesus and her fidelity to the mission God gave to her.

It would have been easy to be scared. Easy to be terrified of living up to the motherhood of God; it might have been a large temptation to sin and therefore say “Look, see, I am not worthy of this responsibility. Someone else must do it.” But Mary did not. God looked on her with love, and asked her this thing. Mary gave her heart to God and accepted with love. Jesus was born, and Mary did not fail, but was instead raised to Queen of Heaven.

Today, eight days after Christmas, we think on the role Mary had in salvation. We reflect in our heart on her, and she did on Jesus. May God shine his face upon us too, and may we love Him enough to live up to His goodness.