January 2, 2022

Welcome to 2022; times here on earth sure flies, doesn’t it?
On January 1st every year, we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God, who is also the patron saint of the Americas. The name “Mother of God” has some history, as the early Christians wrestled with the idea of calling her Theotokos, meaning “God bearer”. Or was she was just a simple vessel to deliver a child who then became the God of the Universe? Anyone who is Catholic would hopefully accept this fact, but our protestant/evangelical brothers and sisters struggle with holding her in any place of honor.
We, as Catholics, do need to get something straight: We do NOT worship Mary, but we give her a very high place of honor, because she gave the angel Gabriel her unconditional “yes” to bearing Jesus and raised him to an adult like any other parent would. She watched him grow and knew more about him than any other human, other than Joseph. Mary knew Jesus was the Savior of the World, yet she gave him the love that only a mother could give. Why would we not want to honor her?
Should we hold Mary in such high esteem? (We even give her the title of Queen of Heaven.) This has been debated over the entire history of the Church. The Holy Spirit has led us to answer that question with a resounding “yes”! On a personal note, I give her many of my prayer requests every morning and trust she will take each of them to her son. I also truly believe Jesus loves his Mom so much that he has a hard time saying no to anything she asks of him. She is the one I hope to see first when I take my last breath here on earth, and I hope she takes me to her son in all his glory!

-Deacon Jeff