Today is an important feast day in the life of the Church. I know we're all celebrating New Year's Day (and Happy New Year, by the way) but for the Church, the new year really began with Advent. Today we celebrate Mother Mary's role in the life of Jesus Christ, in the life of his Church, in salvation history, and in our own sanctification and salvation. A "solemnity" is a higher order of feast day - not that it has to be "solemn," but that it's super important.
As you may know, the title Mother of God is an ancient title for Mary, and it essentially is meant to emphasize the divinity of Christ. Lots could be said about it, as a doctrine, but it was the center of a controversy in the 5th century. It was affirmed as a dogma of the Church at the ecumenical Council of Ephesus in the year 431 AD. But it was far from new at that time. It goes back at least a couple centuries before that, and we have a prayer from the 3rd century that calls Mary the Mother of God. The prayer is called by its Latin title, the Sub Tuum Praesidium which can be translated, "Under your protection." The prayer exists in both Greek and Latin versions, and I encourage you to look it up in its various more traditional translations - but here is my translation, which takes into account both the Greek and the Latin:
Holy Mother of God, uniquely pure and blessed,
We take refuge under your compassion (or: protection)
Do not ignore our prayers in our time of need
But free us from danger
That last line implies, "by your intercession," of course. And note that the "danger" in question, in the middle of the third century, would have been the most severe persecution of the Church up to that time. So this is a good prayer for Mary's intercession, for when we're feeling marginalized by an anti-Christian culture, and we're feeling a little hopeless or helpless. There's a lot to be concerned about as we enter into a new calendar year, but also a lot to be thankful for, and personally, I'm not big into new years' resolutions, but I do try to treat the New Year like another Thanksgiving - thankful for the past, and rededicating myself to trusting God in the future.
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
I hope to have another installment of THE JOURNEY up this Saturday - here's the text for the rest of the chapter - I didn't bother with the colored text since this is all from the Gospel of John.
