"Let us celebrate the motherhood..."

[MariaChristi]

Let us celebrate the motherhood of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord. (Invitatory Antiphon - Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy, Holy Feast of Mary, Mother of God! How beautifully the Church has put this feast at the beginning of the world’s calendar year so that we may look to the Mother God has chosen for His Son and the Mother the Son chose to share with all of us from His Cross, with the words:

Behold your Mother (John 19:27)

How do we celebrate today, and how do we worship her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? Our greatest act of worship is our participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are spiritually, yet really at Calvary as Jesus offers Himself in the same sacrifice. The Priest is Jesus and the Victim is Jesus, only the manner is unbloody. We can offer ourselves with Jesus as Mary did and we can receive Him, Resurrected as she did in Holy Communion.

What tremendous mysteries we celebrate! Born again into Jesus at Baptism, we are enabled to grow in grace, which is
God’s life within us, as Mary grew in grace on this earth. God gives the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, to know Him, trust Him and to love Him; He continually offers us the sacraments and the bread of His Word to nourish us and enable us to learn from Him and live more and more in Him, walking as He walked this earth.

In today’s Gospel from Luke 2:16-21, we hear again the account of the shepherds coming to see what the angels told them; we hear also:

…And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Let us celebrate today with Jesus her Son, with Joseph her husband, and with all those who love her, gazing on the humble Mary, our Mother.

 

[Nelka]

I finished my first nine fridays today. There were more people at Mass this morning than on normal weekdays.

 

[MariaChristi]

I finished my first nine fridays today. There were more people at Mass this morning than on normal weekdays.

Dear Nelka,

Thanks for your reply, and for completing the nine First Fridays. Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is so very important. I’m glad the Church was crowded for this Feast of Mary, Mother of God, and for the First Friday. I don’t know how many realized it was the “First Friday” of the month. Often when we have a major Feast on a weekday, it can tend to have us focus more on the Feast than anything else.

This Feast is also a Holy Day of Obligation in the USA:

In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:

January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Are these holy days the same in England?

I hope it was a truly blessed day for you and this new 2016 will be a blessed Year for you also.