Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 1 January 2012, Luke 2:16-21

Nativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490

I'm pretty sure you did it too. Around about 11:30 last night, I sat and scrolled through the contacts on my phone, ticking off the names. Then I composed a message, a text to my family and friends wishing them a happy New Year.
In the middle of our facebooking/twittering/blogging world, it seems as though the humble text message is the medium of choice for the New Year.

What did you write on your texts? I wrote: "Happy New Year! Wishing you and yours choice blessings for 2012!"

We wish each other peace, joy, happiness, blessings for the New Year. These are the words of the first reading from the book of Numbers:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace. (Num 6:24-26)

The blessing of God that we receive is Christ Jesus, born of Mary. God's blessing is God himself. That is what today's feast day is all about.

The title of today's feast comes from an ancient council of the Church, the Council of Ephesus in 431. The council was called to settle a dispute between bishops over the divinity and humanity of Christ. The proper title for Mary would determine whether Jesus was divine or human. The possible titles for Mary were 'Christ-bearer' which would have leant more heavily on Jesus' humanity, or 'God-bearer' which would lean more heavily on Jesus' divinity.

('God-bearer' coming from the greek 'Theotokos'; 'Christ bearer' being 'Christotokos').

This is important because if Jesus is not really God then salvation cannot come from him. If Mary had been called 'Christ-bearer' then it would have left the question open as to whether salvation comes from her Son, Jesus.

As you listen to this, you may well be thinking to yourself that we don't really need to know all of this stuff about Mary and Jesus. That you're just here to go to Mass.

My friends, it is good to take stock as we enter into a New Year. The structure of Church that you have grown up with is in decline. The number of priests in Ireland has been declining for decades. However, over the next couple of years we are going to hit a kind of terminal velocity downwards in terms of the numbers of priests. This is something that I am growing in awareness of all the time. I also am aware that most of our congregations are not really aware of this. We would rather keep it out there, away from ourselves.

In the middle of this decline in the number of priests, the easiest option can seem to be to let go. Let the whole enterprise crash. We are tempted to label the dying body of the Church with 'Do Not Resuscitate'.

And, with that, without ever fully knowing what we had in our midst, we could let go of the wonder that the Church is. This wonder that has adapted to all kinds of political, cultural and economic situations throughout its two-thousand year history. This wonder that has managed to survive through periods of great persecution wherever it has gone.

We are at a point of great change. If you're wondering why you go to Mass on Sunday, maybe it would be important to start forming some concrete answers to that question in 2012. Don't just leave it to the experts. Begin or begin again the process of learning about your faith.