The Almighty looked on the lowliness of his Handmaid

 

Tuesday 8 September 2020

The Almighty looked on the lowliness of his Handmaid

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

First reading

Micah 5:1-4 ·

He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord

The Lord says this:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

the least of the clans of Judah,

out of you will be born for me

the one who is to rule over Israel;

his origin goes back to the distant past,

to the days of old.

The Lord is therefore going to abandon them

till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.

Then the remnant of his brothers will come back

to the sons of Israel.

He will stand and feed his flock

with the power of the Lord,

with the majesty of the name of his God.

They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power

to the ends of the land.

He himself will be peace. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 12(13):6-7

I exult for joy in the Lord.

Lord, I trust in your merciful love.

Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.

I exult for joy in the Lord.

Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me,

singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

I exult for joy in the Lord.

 

Gospel

Matthew 1:1-16,18-23

The  conception of Jesus Christ

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’  THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Homily

We are proud – I am great, I am important. This is an illusion. Since God is infinitely great, I too am great. My greatness depends on his goodness and love for me. In myself I am no more than a clod of earth in a field. God took this lump of clay, formed me into the image of a man. Still lifeless, he breathed the breath of life into me. He made me who I am and promises to do even greater things. He would like to make me like himself in every way. The more I understand this is love and gratitude, the more he can do.

I should never forget my origins while rejoicing in the love of God for me. Mary is the greatest because she always realises that she has come from nothing, like the rest of us. She constantly gives God the glory for her being. She is the image of God in her love. She loves God her Creator and she loves all his creation.

She is the masterpiece of creation. In her God realised his dream for creation. In view of the death of Jesus he saved her from sin and the influence of Satan. Created and born from nothing, she was redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Through the grace won for the human race by Jesus, she was full of grace and perfect in the eyes of God. She was worthy to be Mother to his Son. When she came to the age of reason, she cooperated in every way with God – behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.

Having fulfilled her role of Mother of God, Jesus Son of God and her Son too, made her the Mother of all his disciples. This was the last gift that he gave us as he died. After the gift of himself in the Holy Eucharist, the gift of his Mother is the greatest gift he could give us.

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, we must have a true and deep love for our Mother. She is the one who educates us in the faith and teaches us how to love and serve Jesus. “Do whatever he tells you”, is always her advice.

Day by day we must grow in our love for her. We do this by visiting her and speaking to her through the Rosary. The devout and love-filled praying of the Rosary each day we grow in the image of Jesus, who loves his Mother like no one else.

She too is able to bestow on us all the graces won by her Son. She can be a true Mother to each us. The Rosary is a prayer most pleasing to God. Mary listening to our constant request for her to pray for us, does that. She becomes the source of blessings for us.