"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'"(John 6:68-69)The 8th Day in the Octave of Christmas
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God - Solemnity
Feast of the Day:
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
MARY, MOTHER OF GODO marvelous exchange!
Man's Creator has become man,
born of a virgin.
We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
Mary has given birth to a King
whose name is everlasting ;
hers the joy of motherhood,
hers the virgin's glory.
Never was the like seen before,
never shall it be seen again, alleluia.
By your miraculous birth of the Virgin
you have fulfilled the Scriptures :
like a gentle rain falling upon the earth
you have come down to save your people.
O God, we praised you.
Christian Prayer : The Liturgy of the Hours; Daughters of St. Paul * St. Paul Editions * 1976
Saint of the Day:
The 8th Day in the Octave of Christmas
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God - Solemnity
Book of Numbers 6: The Aaronic Blessing
22-23 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,
24 God bless you and keep you,
25 God smile on you and gift you,
26 God look you full in the face
and make you prosper.
27 In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel—
I will confirm it by blessing them.”
Psalms 67:1-7 God, mark us with grace
and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
all the godless nations see how you save.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Let all far-flung people become happy
and shout their happiness because
You judge them fair and square,
you tend the far-flung peoples.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Earth, display your exuberance!
You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.
You mark us with blessing, O God.
Earth’s four corners—honor him!
8 May God bless us still;
that the ends of the earth may revere him.
Letter to the Galatians 4:4-7 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2:15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.
19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
Blessings
21 When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.
The 8th Day in the Octave of Christmas
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God - Solemnity
Commentary of the Day:
Saint John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Homily for the 1st January 1979 (trans. © copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
Day of Motherhood, day of peace
Today the church particularly venerates the Motherhood of Mary. This is, as it were, a last message of the octave of Christmas. Birth always speaks of the mother, of her who gives life, of her who gives man to the world. The first day of the New Year is the day of the Mother: we see her then—as in so many pictures and sculptures—with the Child in her arms, with the Child at her breast… There is no image that is better known and that speaks in a more simple way of the mystery of the Lord's birth than that of the Mother with Jesus in her arms. Is not this image, perhaps, the source of our extraordinary confidence?...
But there is yet another image of the Mother with her Son in her arms. It is in this basilica: it is "la Pietà": Mary holding Jesus who has been taken from the Cross… and who after death returns to those arms on which he was offered as Saviour of the world at Bethlehem.
I would like, then, to unite our prayer for peace with this double image.., with this Motherhood, which the Church venerates particularly in the octave of Christmas. Therefore I say:
"Mother,
you who know what it means
to clasp in your arms the dead body of your Son,
of him to whom you gave birth,
spare all mothers on this earth
the death of their sons,
the torments, the slavery, the destruction of war,
the persecutions, the concentration camps,
the prisons!
Keep for them the joy of birth,
of sustenance, of the development of man
and of his life.
In the name of this life,
in the name of the birth of the Lord,
implore with us peace,
and justice in the world!
Mother of Peace,
in all the beauty and majesty of your motherhood,
which the Church exalts and the world admires,
we pray to you:
Be with us at every moment!
Let this New Year be a year of peace,
in virtue of the birth and the death of your Son! '"
Amen.
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