Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” January-February 2022

Most Holy Mary, Mother of God (S)
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FIRST READING

From the Book of Numbers (Nm 6:22-27)
The Lord spoke to Moses and said: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and say: ‘This is how you shall bless the Israelites. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.’ So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.” – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the First Reading

The new year begins, in the liturgy, with a blessing. What a wonderful beginning! The blessing recorded in the Book of Numbers is the most famous in the entire Old Testament, dictated by God to Moses. In the years that followed, from generation to generation, the priests of the temple would use this formula to bless the people whenever the Israelites went up to the temple: to offer their firstborn, for penitential liturgies, for weddings, and on the principal feasts. Jesus too, the true and only high priest of the new covenant, certainly used this formula to bless his apostles and the people who went to listen to him. This is the most powerful blessing that exists, because it came from the lips of God. But the blessing demands supreme faith from the one who receives it: to welcome “the name of God” within me, I must first empty my soul of everything that is not God and that obscures his presence. Then the holy name of the Lord will come into me and envelop me, and I will be able to walk even on scorpions, because this blessing is not merely human but descends directly from heaven.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (Gal 4:4-7)
Brothers and sisters, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir through God. – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Second Reading

In his Letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul launches into a theological explanation of the relationship between Law and Grace, explaining the function of the ancient commandments and what it means to be free in Christ. Things that are sometimes difficult to understand... But then, right in the middle of the letter, the apostle surprises us with this statement concerning Christ: “Born of a woman.” It seems like a minor detail, yet it is absolutely central. He is fully the Son of God, he comes from heaven, and for this reason his sacrifice saves us, but at the same time he was born of a woman, like all of us who were born of a mother. God receives flesh and blood from a mother and, by virtue of this simple fact, the Virgin Mary can say to her God: “My Son!” What the Father says to the Son in eternity, a woman repeats today, in time, to the child she holds in her arms: “My Son!” But the most astonishing thing is that God says to a creature the word expressing the most intimate relationship there is on earth: “Mommy, my mother!” Faced with this dialogue, we can only fall to our knees in adoration.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 2:16-21)
At that time, [the shepherds] went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

The shepherds are the loveliest protagonists of the Christmas season. The angels announce to them that the Messiah has finally arrived and point out the unmistakable sign by which they can recognize him: a newborn child. What sign could be poorer, more “ordinary”? What could be extraordinary about a baby only a few hours old? And yet the shepherds raise no objection: they run immediately, because God’s angels cannot lie. They arrive, see, kneel, and adore. No miracle appears before their eyes, only a little child in his mother’s arms. This is faith: believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the one sent, that he is God, even without miracles, because the “sign” is there before their eyes, and it is his humanity. All of God is in that child, because in him dwells all the fullness of divinity. Can you believe this? And yet, it is all there. Years later, when the Jews asked, “What must we do to accomplish the works of God?”, Jesus would answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent” (Jn 6:29). In this way, we too, like the shepherds, can return to our daily lives glorifying and praising God because we recognize the immense Good in that sign: all of God in Jesus.