Today's Gospel, on the Solemnity of the Mother of God, is taken from Luke, chapter 16, verses 16 to 21.
Today we celebrate the feast of the Mother of God, without whom we would not have had Christmas.
Often, when we think of Mary, we think of the three gifts God gave her: the Immaculate Conception, her Virgin Motherhood, and her Assumption into Heaven.
Devotion over the centuries has centered on these three doctrines. This is the Mary the Church knows best. She is, in fact, everything that is closest and dearest to God in humanity.
The problem is that Mary's most precious privileges place her beyond our imitation. We address Mary saying: Holy Mary, Mother of God. Yes, the Church has always said that next to Jesus, Mary was the holiest of humans.
Now, holiness means union with God. Union with God depends on two factors: on God and on us. On God's initiative and our response. All holiness, all union with God begins with God.
It was God who kept sin from Mary's soul from the first instant of her existence. It was God who chose Mary to be the Virgin Mother of His Son. It was God who assumed Mary's body into Heaven. But God always asks a question: Will you do it?
That is why He asked Mary: "Will you be the Mother of God?" And as the whole world waited in eager expectation, Mary said yes.
God wants us to be one with Him, to be holy. He took the initiative at our Baptism. He sent His Holy Spirit to make us His own. He took the initiative at our First Holy Communion. With the Eucharist, you carry Heaven within you. But remember: if God takes the initiative, He always asks a question: Do you will it?
He never forces, never imposes Himself on us. He is the one who stands at the door and knocks, waiting for us to say "Enter."
Perhaps at the start of this new year, we could ask ourselves a question: Do you want God to be formed in your heart? Do you want to build up, in your soul, the Christ you received at Baptism? The Christ you welcome in Holy Communion?
Do you truly want to shape Christ in you, so that, like Mary, you can give Him to us? Do you want to be one with God? Or is there something else you prefer to have? Someone or something that stands between you and Christ.
Your holiness, your union with God, depends on your answer. You are one with God only to the extent that you sincerely say "yes" to Him, as Mary did. This Jewish woman, very human, stands before you not as a lifeless statue, but as a living example—God's best illustration of what it means to be a disciple, of how you must live here and now if you wish to follow Christ.
Not just you, individually. This is what the Christian community must be, and do, if it wishes to be the Church of Christ.
The Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, stands before each of us who call ourselves Christian, constantly urging us onward. What she said to the servants at the wedding in Cana: "Do whatever He tells you."
She does not speak from book learning, but from living experience. For in the history of humanity, no human being has listened to the Word of God more attentively, has said yes to God more unreservedly, has fulfilled the word of God more perfectly.
For the Christian, the authentic joy of Christmas flows from the realization that because of Christ's birth, redemption has touched you. That God loves you, that He wants to live in you. There is a joy there that no one can take from you.
It is not that you blind yourself to reality, that you close your eyes to poverty, pain, war, cancer. They will be just as sharp for you as for the non-believer.
Also read | Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is Called Back to God
But you can nevertheless be filled with joy, because in the midst of darkness, you see the light. In the midst of death, you find life.
The life that is brought to you, through Mary.
Praised be Jesus Christ. Now and forever. Amen.
Homily for this Sunday by Father Robert Warren, Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, Garrison, NY