A Homily – The Solemnity of Mary (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Numbers 6:22-27 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 66(67):2-3,5,6,8 ©

Second Reading – Galatians 4:4-7 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Hebrews 1:1-2

The Gospel According to Luke 2:16-21 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

God may be the created the universe, but God is not a lord, free  the divine name from these earthly titles. God is not a god of tribes and nations, or even worlds, but the God of all creation.

Know that God’s blessing is meant for all God’s children, share yours with the poor and needy and follow God along the way.

Look for the divine in the faces of everyone you encounter, treat them as if they were God themselves, because God dwells within them.

Consider the words of the psalmist, who was when asking God to bless all peoples and nations; to have pity outcast and show mercy to the lost. The psalmist echoes the promise of God.

Be mindful.

God is not confined to one place or one time or one confession of faith. God is the God of everyone, whether they know God or not.

Praise God, ask for God’s blessing, not just four yourself, but for everyone.

Consider the words of the apostle, and reflect on the reality that Jesus’ was a political murder. If you wish to see it as a sacrifice, which means to make something holy, you must understand redemption. Jesus was not purchasing anything for himself or for us when he was killed, he was not paying a debt. He was showing us the way.

Jesus was acting from the spirit of compassion, taking the Sanhedrin’s wrath, and that of the Romans and bringing it on himself, rather than have it visited on his followers and family, his disciples and their families.

His sacrifice was not a magical feat, neither was it is not mystical event; Jesus was acting as a faithful son of God, exercising ordinary compassion in extraordinary circumstances. He was doing what he had been doing everyday throughout the course of his ministry; he was teaching, he was healing, he was protecting his people all the way to his death on the cross.

 Be mindful.

 God’s spirit is with us; the spirit is with us in the memory of Jesus that we carry, we demonstrate it through the loving service we provide to each other.

 Know that God’s spirit animates all of us, we are all God’s children and all of us are heirs to God’s promise, Christian and non-Christian alike.

 Understand this!

 God speaks to everyone; God speaks in the secret chamber of our hearts.  When God speaks God calls us to the service of justice, to be merciful, and to serve with humility.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today, there is a lot packed into this short passage.

 Before we begin to explicate its meaning we must understand that, the apostle Luke never met Jesus. Luke was not one of the disciples, he was a protégé of Paul, and Paul had never met Jesus either.

 Luke and Paul, travelled broadly and met many of those who had followed Jesus. Paul even met with James, who was Jesus’ brother and the bishop of Jerusalem, but they never met Jesus, and everything they knew about Jesus was hearsay.

 Note well, the Gospel of Luke bears Luke’s name but it was not written by Luke. None of the Gospels were written by individuals, they are exercises in collective development. The writing of the Gospels took place over generations, as the communities who authored them did their best to narrate their understanding of the life and mission of Jesus in terms their audience would understand.

 The Gospel of Luke says that Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus were visited by three shepherds. This is presented in distinction to Matthews Gospel which says that the holy family was visited by three Magi, who were “wise men” and Kings.

 The Gospel of John, the earliest Gospel, and that of Mark do not treat the subject of Jesus’ birth at all.

 Matthew’s community, and Luke’s community were each writing to very different audiences, as such, they tailored the narrative of the birth of Jesus to suit those audiences, each in their way creating different fictions that was pleasing to the people to whom they were preaching.

 This is the essence of propaganda; to understand the Gospels, this must be understood first of all. They contain some legitimate historical data, but sifting facts from fiction is difficult. The myths surrounding Jesus are the product of artifice, they did not develop organically over the course of centuries and millennia, they were forced into place to suit the particular interests of particular communities, and some attempt was made to harmonize the diverging story lines later. The Gospels speak to some truths that are universal, and relate some true events, but cannot be relied on as a true account of anything.

 They are, as I have said, propaganda, which is not to say that they are bad, but it is to say that they must be seen for what they are in order to be understood correctly. Because the Gospels are propaganda, they are less reliable as a tool to teach us about Jesus and more appropriately used to teach us about the diverse Near Eastern and Mediterranean communities that formed the early church.

 It is important to bear this in mind when reading the sacred text, they are the product of the human imagination, nothing more and nothing less.

 

First Reading – Numbers 6:22-27 ©

They are to Call Down My Name on the Sons of Israel, and I Will Bless Them

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons:

“This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 66(67):2-3,5,6,8 ©

O God, be gracious and bless us.

 O God, be gracious and bless us

  and let your face shed its light upon us.

So will your ways be known upon earth

  and all nations learn your saving help.

 O God, be gracious and bless us.

 Let the nations be glad and exult

  for you rule the world with justice.

With fairness you rule the peoples,

  you guide the nations on earth.

 O God, be gracious and bless us.

 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

  let all the peoples praise you.

May God still give us his blessing

  till the ends of the earth revere him.

 O God, be gracious and bless us.

 

Second Reading – Galatians 4:4-7 ©

God Sent His Son, Born of a Woman

When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Hebrews 1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 2:16-21 ©

The Shepherds Hurried to Bethlehem and Found the Baby Lying in the Manger

The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

  When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

 

A Homily – The Solemnity of Mary (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation