If you are reading this,
it means you have "crossed the bridge"
like Gino and Rosa here -
(not necessarily at Aswan! but...)
into 2012!
Congrats! Happy New Year!
The Church also wants us to celebrate
by providing a great Solemnity for each and every "January 1st":
Mary, Theotokos - Mary, the Mother of God, a title given to her
long ago before the Reformation, and those times
when families broke away from the Roman Catholic Church
to form their own communities:
The title “Theotokos” for Mary, was confirmed
as early as the year 431, during the Council of Ephesus...
"Many today get confused by the term "Mother of God"
and think that it means Catholics teach that Mary is
the mother of the Godhead - but that is not the case.
It is not the Godhead, but the Incarnate Logos,
of which Mary is mother. The term simply teaches that
the Word himself was born of Mary,
something most Christians - Catholic, Orthodox,
and Protestant - believe" (Stephen Korsman).
With Mary our Theotokos, the God-bearer,
we are the theotokoi!
"In a non-biological sense, every Christian is also
a theotokos, a God-bearer.
All Marian titles teach us something about Christ,
because Mary points us to Christ
("His mother said to the servants,
'Do whatever he tells you' ” Jn 2:5)
and Jesus Christ is the focus of our faith.
How can I enter 2012 as one of the "theotokoi"?
While Mary guarded the Word within her
and gave birth to that Word, so must we.
Just as she "treasured all these things
and pondered them in her heart," (Lk 2:16-21),
so must we.
It's in today's Password:
Let’s guard the Word in us.
And the Word we could use
is given in the First Reading (Numbers 6:22-27):
The Lord spoke to Moses and said…
“Say this to Aaron and his sons:
‘This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel.
You shall say to them:
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.’
This is how they are to call down my name
on the sons of Israel,
and I will bless them.”
Let it be a prayer of blessing for all those who have
contributed to bringing us into 2012!
Let's live that blessing by what we say and do
and show gratitude to our God who as allowed us
to cross the bridge and enter 2012!
Stay blessed!
G
Stephen Korsman:
http://www.theotokos.co.za/theotokos.html ]
[pics:
top: I took of Gino and Rosa, July 2009;
lower: http://daylife.sky.com/imageserve/0gpl2OR83A0S4/626x.jpg ]
[ Let’s guard the Word in us.
Custodiamo in noi la Parola
Preservemos em nós a Palavra
Gardons en nous la Parole
Custodiemos la Palabra dentro de nosotros
Bewahren wir das Wort Gottes stets in uns
Het Woord in ons behoeden ]
