Homily of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Friday, 8 September 2017 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the day when our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was born from the womb of St. Anne, her mother, without any taints of sin just as she had been conceived without sin. This is a day when we rejoice because the Mother of our Lord and Saviour has been born to us.

Some may be wondering why is it that we as Catholics and Christians give so great an honour to Mary, and still yet some may even and has indeed already accused us of idolatry towards Mary and had the very wrong idea and preconceptions that we worship Mary as if she is a goddess. No, this is not the case, brothers and sisters, for there is indeed a very clear dividing line between our worship of God and the honour which we gave to Mary and the other holy saints.

Mary is honoured even more than other saints because of the very simple reason that she is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and One of the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, and upon the obedience of Mary to the will of God, God Himself came in the flesh, and was conceived in the holy womb of Mary. And through the dogma and traditions of our faith since time immemorial, we have believed that because of this, Mary herself had been set aside by God.

Yes, we all know about how she was conceived without any taints of original sin, unlike that of any other human beings, who were tainted as the descendants of the first sinners, Adam and Eve. That is because Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, bearing within her the New Covenant of God made through Jesus Christ, her Son, Whom she bore within her womb for an entire nine months. But this at the same time did not elevate her to the status of a divine, unlike what some would like to charge upon us and our faith.

We honour Mary, firstly because we honour her Son and worship Him as our God and King. As it was in the olden days, the mother of a king was highly regarded and respected, honoured and given the same honour as what was accorded to the king, by the virtue of the mother having bore forth the king and took care of him in his early days until he came of age and was capable of taking over and exercising his own authority as a king.

If that was therefore how the kings of this world brought honour upon their mothers and parents, and if that is how we mankind honour the mothers of our rulers, then should we not have done the same with the Mother of our one and only True King, Jesus Christ? Should we not have done the same with the Mother of our God Himself? For His Kingship is greater than any of those of the worldly kings and rulers, and therefore, we honour Mary rightly and justly because of this.

And in Mary, we see a living and vibrant faith, based on total surrender and commitment to the will of God. She is the greatest among all the saints not just because she is the one closest to the throne of her Son in heaven, but also because of her very own exemplary life, filled with love for God, and with devotion to her Son, by following Him throughout His life, throughout His worldly ministries, and even unto the foot of the cross.

Therefore, on this day, on the celebration of the nativity or the birth of the Mother of our Lord and God, Mary, most Blessed Virgin and loving Mother, let us all reflect on the life which Mary had led, her commitment and total surrender to God’s will, and how she has shown us the way forward, that through her we may reach out to her Son, and find our salvation in Him. Let us all rejoice together, that the birth of Mary has brought the new hope of all of us, that as we gaze on her, we see through her, the coming of our salvation in her Son.

Mary, blessed Mother of God, pray for us sinners, and intercede for us before your beloved Son Jesus, our Lord. Be with us through our times of distress, and guide us on our way, so that we may be able to find our path, and walk along that way through your help, to Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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Thursday, 8 September 2016 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when we all celebrate together the birthday of the Mother of our Lord, who was born of her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, and destined from the moment of her conception, immaculate and free from the taints of sin, to be the bearer of God’s salvation.

On this day, we celebrate together the birth of the one who would eventually become the Ark of the New Covenant, the bearer of the Messiah and the Saviour of the world. Today is a significant event, for the birth of Mary heralded the beginning of the time of grace, as God’s long awaited plan of salvation for His people was being fulfilled through her.

And as we listened to the message of the Sacred Scriptures, surely all of us would wonder why then the Lord would bother to go through so much trouble just in order to deal with us His people. We must be wondering why would He go through all these to help us and to bring us out from the darkness and into the light of His salvation. But that is exactly the wonder of the mysteries that God had revealed to us, that is His love.

God loves us all so much, so much so that in His love, He certainly would not want to see us suffer and perish in the darkness together with Satan and his allies who He had condemned into the eternal damnation. For us, there is still hope if we are able to commit ourselves to change our ways and to repent from all those sins and the things that kept us separated from God.

But in order to establish firmly the covenant and promise which He had made with us mankind, His beloved people, He has given us the perfect gift in His own Son, the Divine Word Incarnate, the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. And as promised by Himself to us through His prophets and servants, He would Himself come and dwell among us, to be one with us, that we may be His people, and He may be our God.

If at the ancient times, God descended among His people in pillars of cloud and fire, then God has since then decided to dwell among us, to be with us His beloved ones, and what way is better than for He Himself to come down upon us and dwell among us as one of us? He took up our flesh through the intermediary of His mother Mary, that as He share in our flesh and existence, so will He share with us His glory and the eternal life He has promised us.

And through Mary, His mother and along with her, He has shown us the examples of how we ought to live our lives that we may be considered and be counted among His faithful and righteous ones. She is a role model for us all in how she had been faithful to the mission which has been entrusted to her. Mary since her birth has been a devoted servant of the Lord, pious and righteous in all her ways.

But most importantly, even though there were uncertainties and doubts in her heart, she gave her all and devote herself completely to the care and love for her Son, Jesus our Lord. She persevered through all the challenges, protecting and guiding her Son through His life. And having followed Him through her life, following Him even through the moments of His Passion, looking at His suffering at the hands of His tormentors and enemies, and eventually witnessing His death on the cross, certainly what she had done was not merely something ordinary.

Having stood by faithfully and committed herself completely to the Lord, and by being righteous, upright and just in all of her actions and deeds in life, Mary is indeed the best role model for all of us the people who are faithful to God and members of His Church. By following her, we will be able to find the best path to reach out to the Lord our God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice and celebrate today in commemoration of the birth of the mother of our Lord, Mary, the Mother of God, let us all also take some time to reflect on our own actions in life, and see in what way we can emulate and follow in the footsteps of Mary. May the Lord help us in this endeavour, and guide us that we may find our way to reach Him and the salvation which He has promised us all. God bless us all. Amen.