Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
At the beginning of the year, the Church reminds us of the beginning of our salvation. As the ruin of humanity began with a woman, Eve, so the salvation of humanity began with a woman, Mary. Eve was a virgin because, unfortunately, she did not conceive any children before the original sin. Mary is a virgin and, like Eve before she sinned, a virgin married to a righteous man. Mary is the second Eve, who did rightly what the first Eve did wrongly. Eve ruined her children by sin; Mary saved her children by obedience.
Eve listened to an angel, for the devil is an angel by nature and a demon by sin. Mary also listened to an angel, Gabriel. Eve's "yes" to what the evil angel proposed brought death to all her children. Mary's "yes" to what the good angel proposed brought eternal life to all her children. Mary came after Eve in time, but before her in predestination and grace, and so she is the daughter of Eve in the order of nature, but the mother of Eve in the order of grace. Eve only happened to be a virgin, but she did not intend to remain one. Mary was a virgin by vow, even though she was married to Saint Joseph. Both Mary and Joseph, in fact, were inspired by God to serve Him in virginity. Therefore, Mary always remained a virgin, even after she became a mother.
Mary was called to be the mother of men, or that is, Eve, rather, was called to be the mother of men, but Mary, the mother of God. Divine motherhood is such an exalted prerogative that the singular grace of the Immaculate Conception serves as a preparation for it. We confess that Mary was conceived immaculate to be the worthy mother of God. She is the mother of God because she is the mother of Christ, and Christ is God. She is not the mother of the divine nature, but the mother of the incarnate Word, whom she bore according to His human nature. For one does not become the mother of a human nature, but of the person who has that nature, and in the case of Jesus, that person is the eternal Word, who is God.
On Christmas Day, I hope you all took some time before the nativity scene to contemplate the wonders of the divine Child, that sign that is that miracle that has been given us. Though He had just been born, He was in the beginning with God. The eternal Word became a speechless babe. The heavens are His, the earth is His, and yet He had no better place to be born than the extreme poverty of a stable. The shepherds found the Child with Mary. She is another sign, another miracle. For Isaiah said concerning her, "The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel," which means "God with us." The virgin's son is God with us—God become a man like us in all things but sin.
The virgin shall conceive and bear, the prophet said. Like her Son, she is full of wonders. She is a sign like the burning bush that Moses saw and was astounded and said to himself, "I will turn aside to see this great sign. If the bush burns, why is it not consumed? If it is not consumed, what is burning?" And so it is with Mary. If she is a mother, how can she still be a virgin? If she is a virgin, how can she have a son? The burning bush was a sign of the presence of God, who said to Moses, "Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Mary too is holy ground. She is the virgin earth from which the new Adam was formed, much as the first Adam was formed from virgin earth that had never been touched by human hands.
From the bush, God revealed His name, "I am who am." He is God, as no other is. Similarly, the miracle of the virgin mother is the sign of the divinity of her Son. The Son who has no earthly father has a heavenly Father. He who is eternally begotten of the Father without a mother had to be begotten of His mother without a father. Virginal is His eternal generation; virginal, His temporal generation. But how can the virgin's womb contain God, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Here is a womb more spacious than the heavens, capable of welcoming all mankind. Here is a new Noah's ark, capable of saving all who take refuge in her. In the old ark, only eight people found refuge, but in the new ark, there is no limit on the number of those saved.
In that virginal womb, there has never been and never will be anyone but Christ. And yet baptism incorporates us into the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ. And so we are with Christ. We are mystically with Christ in the virgin's womb. We are in her because we are in Christ. This wondrous motherhood is the origin of our salvation. And so we begin the year with it. It is the origin of our salvation because without her fiat, without her "yes," there would have been no Savior.
Therefore, St. Bernard, imagining the scene of the Annunciation, said to Our Lady: "On your word depend the consolation of the wretched, the redemption of the captive, the freedom of the condemned, the salvation of the entire race, of all the children of Adam." Thus, it is right that at the beginning of the year, we commemorate the beginning of our salvation, when Mary of Nazareth became the mother of God.
This day also marks another beginning in the work of our salvation, one mentioned in today's Gospel. The Gospel repeats the passage read at the Mass at dawn on Christmas Day to connect the end of the octave to the beginning. And it continues the story by adding one more verse, the one that recounts the circumcision of Jesus. That was the first time that the Savior shed His blood for the remission of our sins. Like every male Jew, He was circumcised on the eighth day after birth, and today is the eighth day of Christmas.
St. Paul tells us in the second reading, "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." The Son of God is born of a woman—this is the divine motherhood. He was born under the law and therefore had to be circumcised. Even though God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, we could not receive that blessing, those blessings, we cannot receive those blessings without the remission of our sins. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Therefore, that innocent Child, that God-made-man to bless us, did not hesitate to shed His blood for us. He was anxious to save us. He did not want to wait thirty years to begin shedding His blood. He began on the eighth day of His life.
And so this calls us to reflect: what is sin? What is this terrible thing that caused Jesus, even as a baby, to be eager to shed His divine blood in reparation for it? And to the blood of the Child were added the tears of the divine Mother in a foretaste of Calvary. She wept with sorrow for our sins, which were the reason that that blood was shed. She wept, moved by the love of God, who wanted to pay so great a price for our redemption. It fell to her, as Mother of God, to carry Him to the sacrifice, to carry Him, to go shed His blood at His circumcision. They were united in suffering for our salvation.
Jesus' name, given to Him on the occasion of His circumcision, as was customary, indicates this salvation. The original form of the name means, "The Lord is salvation." In ancient times, that name was borne by Joshua. Indeed, Joshua was the first to bear it. He was Moses' successor, the one who led the people to the Promised Land, into the Promised Land.
And in his case, the name indicated that it was not he, Joshua, but God, who was the salvation of the people. Now this name is given to Jesus, the Son of the Mother of God, and therefore Himself the God who saves us. Like Joshua of old, He leads the people into the Promised Land. But the land promised to us is no longer the land of Canaan, but the land of the living—it is heaven.
Jesus brings us God's blessings and does not hesitate to shed His blood to free us from the sin that hinders us from receiving those blessings. And so, through the intercession of the Mother of God, may God have pity on us and bless us.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.