Deacon’s Corner
Happy and blessed New Year to you, Sacred Heart families and friends! I hope your Christmas Season was a time of peace, joy and gratitude. We ended the year on the glorious mountain tops of the birth of our Lord and Savior, the feast day celebrations of St. Stephen (the first martyr and deacon), the feast of St. John (Apostle and evangelist), feast of the Holy Innocents, (martyrs) and the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Holy Mother Church begins our new year, extending our mountain top experiences by celebrating the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Then we celebrate the Epiphany for an entire week. Scattered throughout the month are many feast days and memorials, celebrating the lives of our Saints, our role models in the faith.
I want to pass on a few thoughts on our Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. We honor our Lady under the title Mother of God.
We call Mary, Mother of God, not Mother of Jesus because Jesus was God and man. So Mother of God says we believe Jesus truly was God and man, true God and true man, as we say in the Creed. There were heresies in the past, when some did not believe in the full divinity of Jesus, and calling Mary Mother of God shows we believe in the full divinity of Jesus.
John’s Gospel begins:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. (John 1:1-3)
Jesus existed from the beginning of time, before He became flesh in the womb of Mary. Mary carried Jesus, true God and true man, in her womb for nine months. As St. Paul says, God sent His Son born of a woman. (Gal 4:4) So, it is fitting to call her Mother of God. Even at the time of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and all the others were happy to give the title Mother of God to our Lady.
God prepared our Lady to be Mother of God by preserving her from original sin and all sin. This was a special grace given to our Lady, who is full of grace. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was a chest made of wood to carry the two stone tablets containing the commandments God gave Moses (Ex 25:16). Those who were called on to move the Ark of the Covenant had to consecrate themselves and be holy because the ark was considered so holy since it carried God’s word (1 Chron 15:14). In like manner, Mary could not be touched by sin. God and sin are opposites, and God prepared the sinless Virgin Mary to be a fitting Mother to Jesus, His Son.
It is also fitting that Mary, who was free from sin from the first moment of her existence, was assumed body and soul to the glory of Heaven at the end of her earthly life. Mary is the highest of the Saints. As we honor our Lady as Mother of God, we remember the love of our Lady for each of us. Think of how much our Lady loved St. Bernadette of Lourdes or the children of Fatima. Our Lady loves you just as much, because she does not have favorites. We ask her to intercede before God for us in all the intercessory prayers given to us. The following are six powerful prayers for Mary’s Intercession, enjoy!
The Hail Mary, Morning Consecration to Mary, Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina), Regina Coeli (Caeli), Magnificat (Canticle of Mary), and the Memorare.
May the Peace and Love of Christ be in Your Hearts, Now and Forever!
See you at the next Mass!
Deacon Matt