mother-of-god

“Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.”

The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Mt 1:1).

Many may gloss over the long genealogy of names that follows verse one. Matthew certainly had a reason, Luke also had his, as did other ancient writers for compiling genealogical lists, “for the ancient Jews, a genealogy was nit merely a catalogue of old names. Each name told a story and recalled key events in salvation history. Biblical genealogies also conferred identity and privileges on members of a family, bestowing a sense  of mission and responsibility” (Mitch and Sri, 33).

Matthew placed the context of the incarnation of the Son of God in history, in time, and in a place. Jesus belonged to a people. All of us, as human beings, have the same desire and yearning for belonging. Knowing where we come from, sharing stories of our families, of our culture, ethnicity, race, language, customs, celebrations, rituals, and religion, provide a place for us, provide stability and security. On the flip side, the more we lose the connectedness to our roots, the more we may feel adrift. The need to belong is primal.

Matthew penned for his community the roots of Jesus’ genealogy. Matthew invites us to hear them again, to recognize our place in the same saga of salvation history, for this is our genealogy also. The Church chose this Gospel today as we remember and celebrate the nativity of Mary. The whole of the Bible is a rich library of faith and a part of, not separate from, but an integral part of sacred Tradition. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a compilation from Mary and our ancestors who encountered God and shared their stories. They passed them on, generation after generation, to provide for us a foundation, so we can know that we are never alone, that we have a place, that we are a people, we stand in solidarity with one another, that we belong. We are a part of something greater than ourselves.

That rings out from the very first line of this genealogy. The announcement that Jesus is connected to Abraham the father of faith and David the prototype of the King who unified the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew also adds, Christ. This is not Jesus’ surname, but the Greek title of “Anointed One” from the Hebrew, Messiah. Jesus is no mere teacher. He is the Christ the Son of the living God.

One thing that can weaken the richness of the foundation of our roots and identity is when it is corrupted by a lack of integrity. We see this time and again in the pages of the Bible continuing up to our present day. Those who not only turn their back on but usurp their faith, tradition, and God’s message for their own selfish means and purposes. Yet, even in the darkest of times, in those same pages there have been those judges, prophets, and people of integrity who have stood up to speak truth to power, to give voice and access to those on the peripheries.

Even today when we may feel like our country, world, or even our own lives are spinning out of control, let us remain faithful, seek courage and strength from our ancestors in the faith, those people of integrity who remained true, remained faithful, and did not turn and flee, but drew closer to God. Through our ancestors in faith and through Mary and Joseph, we are given rich models who because of their faithfulness, brought to us the gift of Jesus.

Jesus is more than a model of faith. Calling upon his name can be a prayer in itself. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Proclaiming the name of Jesus places us in the very presence of the Son of God. Where the Son is, so is the Father and the Holy Spirit. We can also find refuge in the Son who became one with us in our humanity as the Son of Mary because he intimately understands each of us and our needs and challenges. He is present to us when we call upon him through the power of his name. Our lives are transformed when we allow Jesus to conform our hearts and minds to the will of his Father and become one with him in his divinity.

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Photo: Mary, Mother of God, as we celebrate your birthday, we thank you for the greatest gift you could have given us, Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, September 8, 2025

“Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

There was no one on this earth closer to Jesus than Mary. He was conceived in her womb, she bore him, nursed him, raised him, initiated his public ministry, held him in her arms as he was taken down from the cross, and she was with the Apostles in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Mary from her own beginning, through God’s grace, experienced an Immaculate Conception. When her time came to leave this life, who better than Mary to have experienced the “singular participation in her Son’s resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1997, 966)?

Today we celebrate the official dogmatic constitution issued by Pope Pius XII in 1950, the Assumption of Mary, acknowledging what the Church has recognized from the beginning, the special grace she received from her Son. Jesus is the promise and Mary is the hope that we will live eternally with our heavenly Father, for Mary is now where we will one day be, body and soul.

Jesus and Mary have undone the sin of Adam and Eve. They, in their continual faithful life of saying yes to the will of God, opened up heaven for us. In our darkest trials, when the storm clouds of injustice, racism, violence, division, and polarization gather, when a situation or conflict does not appear to be getting any better, when death may be imminent, and/or when a loved one has died, even then, death does not have the last word because we are not alone.

As St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, “Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is the first born of the new creation. We are invited to join Jesus in participating in his new Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, preparing ourselves in this life for eternity in the next. How? By doing what Jesus and Mary did. We are to open our hearts and minds to God, hear and observe his word, and put into practice what we receive.

Mary was not blessed so much because she gave birth to the Son of God but because she heard the Word of God, pondered it in her heart, obeyed, and put it into practice. This is why the Church calls Mary the model of discipleship. Just as the moon does not radiate because of its own light but reflects the light from the Sun, so Mary reflects the light of her Son.

Mary radiates the light of Jesus in her thoughts, words, and deeds and we are to do the same such that when people look at us they no longer see us but the love of Jesus radiating from us. How do we radiate Christ to others? We become deified, our likeness to God is to be restored through our participation in the life of Jesus. This happens when we make a daily commitment to meditate, pray, and contemplate the words that God has given to us in Sacred Scripture, so as to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us by the holy fire of his love.

A simple way to begin is to commit to a time and place every day to ponder the mysteries of Jesus and Mary. One beautiful way is to practice the Rosary which embodies all three of the traditional forms of Catholic prayer, vocal, meditative, and contemplative. You may feel that praying a Rosary in one setting is too much of a task to undertake, then start with one mystery. Make the Sign of the Cross, take in three, deep breathes for each Person of the Trinity, announce the mystery and begin to ponder the mystery you have chosen.

Since today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, ponder this beautiful mystery. The Lord’s Prayer helps to quiet our minds so we can ponder. Each Hail Mary, like background noise in a movie, helps our minds to resist distraction. Then as our mind stills we can stop the vocal part of the prayer and just imagine Mary’s final hours, maybe with the Apostle John by her side. We can imagine ourselves joining him and experiencing the peace of not only her passing but of her Assumption into heaven, body and soul. We can contemplatively rest in God’s peace that we have received from our time with Mary and the promise that she is where we will one day be and remember who we are, beloved daughters and sons of our loving God and Father.

Photo: “… by her Assumption, she goes ahead like her son to prepare a way for us.” – From The World’s First Love, by Fulton J. Sheen.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, August 15, 2025