Reading I: Numbers 6:22-27
Reading II: Galatians 4:4-7
GOSPEL: Luke 2:16-21
Mary or Jesus?
Knowing we are children of God doesn’t give us justification for judging and condemning others, especially when we know that invoking God’s name to bless those around us gives us countless opportunities to bring God’s divine grace into the world. Today’s readings can help us connect to Mary and embrace her approach, which was to keep the focus on Jesus. If we play our role to the best of our ability and leave Jesus as the main character, we will be worshiping Christ and honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Names Have Power
For the people in biblical times, a name was synonymous with the person. So, to invoke the name of God was to invoke God himself, making him present in the moment. When you understand that, then the last line of our first reading makes a lot more sense. “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Catholics pray, give and receive blessings, participate in the Sacraments, and use God’s name with all of those things. Invoking God’s name means God is there. When we have God’s name in our mind, God is there. For true disciples of Christ, God is always present in our lives!
Be Good Kids
As children of God, St. Paul knew that we are all heirs to the Kingdom, and being an heir carries great responsibility. We are not called to be bratty, selfish children of God. We’re called to be kind, helpful, generous, loving, accepting, and well-behaved children. The kind of children that make their parents proud. The kind who have the Spirit in their hearts and call out, “Abba, Father!”
Mary understood this and provided a wonderful example of how to live as good children of God. She said “yes” when called, did the most amazing thing a human being can do – conceived God’s son through the Holy Spirit and delivered him into the world – yet never made it about her. Yes, she played a pivotal role in our salvation history, but she always knew that she wasn’t the main character.
Be More Like Mary
This Solemnity is about Mary, but what happened in the Gospel reading wasn’t really focused on her. Mary played her part in our salvation story, then sat back and thought about what was going on – watching the results of what she had helped to do. We are called to be more like Mary.
One of the reasons we honor Mary on this Solemnity is because, even though she played a huge part in our redemption and salvation, she never believed it was about her. Like the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are all called to play a role in building God’s Kingdom; and like her, we need to be humble enough to understand that, no matter how important our particular role might seem to be, it’s still not about us.
We aren’t the main characters in the story of salvation… but, like Mary, we are all called to deliver our part!
Life Applications:
What lessons can you learn from Mary?
In what ways do you act as if you’re the main character?
How can you play your role while keeping Jesus at the center of it all?
Check out the REAL Word Podcast for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Cycle A):
Original article by Brandon Jubar, 2022.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.