The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
January 1st 2007

By Father Syriaque Cine
My brothers and sisters, today January 1st 2007, people and priests from the different countries who make the Parish of St. Brigid, we gather with joy to celebrate the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This feast is more festive this year because people who represent the different countries bring solemnly the banners of Mary to show how Mary is honored in each of those countries. In addition to that, the Church is well decorated with flowers, images, the manger, and the multiethnic beautiful faces of all the people who constitute the landscape of St. Brigid’s Church, the little United Nations of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. We can say today that, even for one hour, we are tasting a little bit of the reality of heaven on earth.

This feast invites us to look at the life of Mary in her former mission to give birth and to raise the Son of God, Jesus. The last words of Mary to the Angel Gabriel: “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1, 38) shaped her life as a mystery which unfolded day after day. The life of Mary as a mother was very difficult. But her life was (1) built on total confidence in God, (2) characterized by creative silence and meditation, and (3) moved by a strong sense of responsibility.

Mary was very confident in God when she bore the burden of her pregnancy for the unknown Father, the Holy Spirit. Who would believe Mary if she told her parents and Joseph that she was pregnant for the Holy Spirit? Remember the nightmare of Joseph about the pregnancy of Mary! The Holy Spirit was very slow to speak to Joseph about that pregnancy. It was only after Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly that the angel appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph do not to be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home because it was through the Holy Spirit that the child has been conceived in her” (Mt. 1, 20).
The Gospel today says that: “The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger”. What was the manger? Was it a good and hygienic place for a baby to be born? How did Mary and Joseph end up to the manger?

There is a little story about the manger that I would like to share with you. It is about Mary Ann, our cook in the rectory at St. Brigid, and her granddaughter Mia, who is now four years old. For the past two years, Mary Ann used to explain Mia how Mary and Joseph were in the manger, how Jesus was born there, and how the shepherds and the magi came to adore Jesus there…This year, when Mary Ann began to refresh Mia’s memory on the birth of Jesus in the manger, Mia paused a little and said: “Grandma, where did they go to the bathroom? Amazed, Mary Ann said “…Maybe they used a bucket”. Mia retorted “there is bucket here, Grandma”. Mary Ann said: “Maybe they went on the grass?”. She shouted: “Grandma, people don’t go on the grass”. Shaken, Mary said: “They went to somebody’s home”. Mia was silent for a while. Imagine a child of four years old who asked so profound and vital questions on the basic necessities of the manger as the temporary home of the Holy Family! Yes, God talks through the mouth of the children.

The manger, at the birth of Jesus, was the place where the animals lived. You fathers and mothers who used to be surprised by well-organized baby showers, you can figure out what was going on in Joseph’s and Mary’s minds with all the troubling cries of the animals. The gospel for the midnight Christmas mass says that Mary and Joseph went to the manger because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2, 6-7). Mary and Joseph were two poor migrants who were rejected by the society. They finally ended up among the animals because they had no money to pay a room in the hotel.

The pertinent questions of Mia must bring us to deeply reflect on the nightmare of the Holy Family compared to the crucial situations of immigrants and poor people in the United States and in the whole world. At the beginning of this New Year, we must, as Christians, make resolution to participate in creating structures that can produce better conditions of living for the immigrants and the poor people in the US and in the whole world.

The rejection and the sufferings that Mary experienced in raising Jesus, had not negatively affected her heart. Instead, as St. Luke says in his gospel, “Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart” (Luke 2, 19). The product of her reflection was, among other things, one of charity, love and compassion for people in need. As a mother who experienced hardships, she participated in molding the compassionate and loving heart of her Son Jesus.
Indeed, in the wedding of Cana, Mary did not wait for the groom and the bride to be ashamed by the lack of wine. She pushed her Son Jesus to change the water into wine, knowing the time of Jesus had not yet come. The compassionate heart of Mary moved the heart of Jesus with pity to satisfy promptly the need of the people. With that first miracle that Jesus performed under the request of Mary, his disciples and the people believed in Jesus. Then, as Mary gave birth to Jesus, she also gave birth to his public ministry. During his whole ministry, Jesus always applied the lessons of charity and love that his mother taught him by performing many miracles for the people without waiting for them to ask him.

The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, includes a long process which started with the annunciation and continued with the entrance of Mary into heaven. All of us, children of Mary, are invited to reflect on the meaning and significance of our lives on earth. We are called to examine of ways of living to see if our actions are guided by the values of love and compassion which shined in the heart of Mary and her Son Jesus. We are invited to let Mary guide our hearts so that we can always show love and compassion to all people whatever their races, their colors, their backgrounds and their countries.

I want to remind you that January first is for the Haitian People what Christmas and July fourth are for the American People. It is the Haitian Independence Day. After two hundred and three years of independence, Haiti is still struggling desperately to survive. We believe that our brothers and sisters in Christ, the American People and other people of good will can help us to get out of our nightmare. Haiti has unfortunately to welcome every month about one hundred Haitian criminals from the United States. Haiti does not have adequate structures to manage criminal prisoners. This is why we are seeing more kidnappings, killings, and horrible crimes in Haiti.

Frè avèk sè Ayisyen m yo, jodi a fè 203 zan indepandans peyi nou. Men kounye a sitiyasyon an ap vin pi mal chak jou pi plis an Ayiti. Anpil nan nou ta vle al pase premye Janvye nou an Ayiti. Men nou pa kapab paske nou pè kon sourit ki wè chat. Sa kap brave danje pou yo ale, nap di yo mezanmi pito nou rete. Nouvèl kap soti an Ayiti chak jou ap monte tansyon nou pi rèd. Map fè nou sonje Manman Mari Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours se Patron peyi Dayiti. Denye mo a se nan men l li ye. Pa dekouraje. Kontinye soutni vye fanmiy nou rete an Ayiti. Nou menm ki isit Ozetani ak nan lòt peyi etranje, mete tèt ansanm “Linyon fè Lafòs” pou nou pa kite peyi a plonje nèt nan lanmè lanmò. Se Lè nou pa panse a Manman Mari Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours ap kase chenn nan pou nou.

Let us pray Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Patron of Haiti, to intercede to her Son on behalf of Haiti so that the Haitian People and people of good will in the world may help us create a free and prosperous Haiti as was the dream of the builders of the Haitian independence. May God bless the United States. May Blessed Virgin Mary protect all of us during this new year and the coming year as she protected Jesus her Son.

God our Father, may we always profit by the prayers of the Virgin Mother Mary, for you bring us life and salvation through Jesus Christ her Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen!

God our Father, we celebrate at this season the beginning of our salvation. On this feast of Mary, the Mother of God, we ask that our salvation will be brought to its fulfillment. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!