To Start the New Year Right with Mary

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Luke 2:16-21

  

“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart (Luk 2:19)”

How do I start my New Year right? As a religious brother, my answer is straightforward. I attended the first mass of the day and prayed the breviary afterward. I believe that I have put my feet on the correct path. Yet, remarkably, none of these liturgical activities are directly related to the New Year! In the first day of the year, the Church is celebrating the solemnity of Mary, the Mary of God and not New Year itself! But why? Before we reflect on an indirect relation between New Year and this great festivity of the Church, let us first zero in on the first ever Marian dogma ever defined.

For non-Catholics, to call Mary as the mother of God is pretty idolatrous. If God has a mother, Mary must be the highest goddess of all! The Catholics must fall back to polytheism as they worship Mary like the ancient Greeks offered incense to Hera, the supreme goddess of Olympus. But, for the well-informed Catholics, the title ‘Mother of God’ does not point to the divinity of Mary, and in fact, we never consider Mary as another supreme being. She is human just every one of us, but she is so blessed because the Word was made flesh through her (Luk 1:31). Thus, in simple logic, we may say that Mary is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God, therefore, Mary is the Mothe r of God.  

But, why the council of Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) in 431 had to make a bold move to define it as dogma? Was it enough to put it as an ordinary teaching of the Church as to avoid misunderstanding? Delving into to the history and theological controversies of the time, the council fathers found a need to defend both the divinity as well as the humanity of Jesus as many heretics considered humanity of Jesus as bogus. But, if Jesus were not God, how could He save and if Jesus were not fully human, how could He bear our sins? Thus, our forefathers taught that Jesus is truly God because he is coming from the Father, and truly human, because He was truly born of Mary. To believe in this dogma is a matter of salvation!

I beg your indulgence if your nose start bleeding. Anyway, let us proceed with the New Year stuffs. Why do we have to celebrate Marian festivity on the start of the year? Why don’t we just create a New Year liturgical event and put this solemnity in some other date? The first reason is that we need to respect the history that our forefathers had placed this celebration in January 1. The second reason is that the Church wants to remind us to start the New Year right! To be right and true, we are called to be like Mary, to be the bearer of God in our lives throughout the year, day in and day out. We give birth to Christ every time we share our faith, every time we opt to be honest, and every time we act to love difficult persons we encounter. We bring Jesus every moment we do not lose hope on each other, every moment we defend the primacy of life, and every moment we fight against injustice and violence.  

To start our year right, why don’t we make this New Year resolution: to be the bearer of God!

Happy New Year and Happy Feastday…

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Mary the First Christian

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 22, 2013

Luke 1:26-38

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luk 1:38)"

Mary is not only the most outstanding Christian, she is in fact the first and most faithful Christian.  The event of Annunciation became the tipping-point episode of humanity as well as of entire created universe. The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. In her utter simplicity, she could not understand, “How can this be, since I did have any relation with a man? (Luk 1:34)”. Yet, one thing she held firm was that nothing is impossible for God. Mary in her freedom consented to God’s liberating will. The entire cosmos that had waited in angst rejoiced exultantly in her ‘Fiat’.

Mary turned to be the first Christian as she gave her nod to God’s invitation. She became the first person who received Christ not only in her soul but in her womb. A perfect reception of Christ! Because of this, Mary was made the splendid model of Christians of all ages. Like Mary, we are graciously invited by God to receive Christ in us, and in freedom, we submit and open ourselves to God. Thus, in baptism, we receive Christ in our soul and are incorporated into his Body the Church. In his love, God offers His only Begotten Son in the Eucharist to us so that we may receive the fullness of Christ not only in our soul but in entire our being. We may not comprehend why God chose us, how He entered our life and how Christ is truly in the Eucharist, but Just like Mary, we lift up our heart to the Lord and confidently say that nothing is impossible for God.

However, accepting Christ in our life is always a radical choice. Often, it entails a perilous and life-threatening. Mary was pregnant practically outside marriage and one was certain for woman like Mary, that is death penalty and indeed, with Jesus around, Mary’s life was no longer ‘normal’. Even, as Jesus ended his earthly life in tragic end, Mary became the sharer of Christ’s cross. Yet, in the face of these utter trials and dangers, Mary did not waver and stood her ground to the end. While other male disciples betrayed, denied and run away from Jesus, Mary was there at the feet of the cross, not weeping, not kneeling and not complaining, she was standing with firmness of heart looking at the fruit of her womb murdered like an animal. Just like Mary, our life with Christ may draw many undesirable consequences: being honest while other do not, being truthful while other tell lie, and being forgiving while other seek vengeance. Yet, we learn from Mary that with Christ we are empowered to stand our ground to the end.

Mary was taken up to heaven because she was the most outstanding Christian and we can be certain that we will be taken up to heaven because we follow the footstep of Mary, the first and the most faithful Christian.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Maria, Sang Pengikut Yesus yang Pertama

Minggu Adven keempat

22 December 2013

Lukas 1:26-38

"Sesungguhnya aku ini adalah hamba Tuhan; jadilah padaku menurut perkataanmu itu" (Luk 1:38).

Maria tidak hanya pengikut Kristus yang paling utama, dia sebenarnya adalah yang pertama dan yang paling setia. Saat Maria menerima Kabar Sukacita, peristiwa ini menjadi episode yang mengubah wajah kemanusiaan serta seluruh alam semesta. Malaikat Gabriel menyatakan kepada Maria bahwa ia akan mengandung Putra Allah melalui kuasa Roh Kudus. Dalam kesederhanaan, dia tidak mengerti, “Bagaimana ini bisa terjadi , karena saya tidak mengenal seorang priapun?” ( Luk 1:34 ). Namun, satu hal yang ia pegang teguh adalah bahwa tidak ada yang mustahil bagi Allah. Maria dalam kebebasannya mengikuti kehendak Allah yang membebaskan. Seluruh kosmos yang telah menunggu dalam kecemasan akhirnya bersukacita dalam ‘Fiat’ yang diucapkan Maria.

Maria menjadi pengikut Yesus yang pertama saat ia menyatakan ‘Ya’ pada undangan Allah. Dia menjadi orang pertama yang menerima Kristus tidak hanya dalam jiwanya tetapi dalam rahimnya. Sungguh resepsi Kristus yang sempurna! Karena itu, Maria menjadi model yang indah dari orang-orang Kristiani dari segala zaman. Seperti Maria, kita diundang oleh Allah untuk menerima Kristus, dan dalam kebebasan, kita membuka diri kepada Allah. Dengan demikian, dalam baptisan, kita menerima Kristus dalam jiwa kita dan menjadi bagian dari Tubuh-Nya, Gereja. Dalam kasih-Nya, Allah juga mempersembahkan Putra Tunggal-Nya dalam Ekaristi kepada kita sehingga kita dapat menerima kepenuhan Kristus tidak hanya dalam jiwa kita, tetapi di seluruh keberadaan kita. Kita mungkin tidak memahami mengapa Allah memilih kita, bagaimana Ia memasuki kehidupan kita dan bagaimana Kristus adalah benar-benar ada dalam Ekaristi, tapi sama halnya seperti Maria, kita mengangkat hati kita kepada Tuhan dan percaya bahwa tidak ada yang mustahil bagi Allah.

Namun, menerima Kristus dalam hidup kita selalu merupakan pilihan yang radikal. Sering kali, hal ini sangat berbahaya dan mengancam jiwa. Kehamilan Maria praktis adalah di luar nikah dan budaya Yahudi mengatakan bahwa wanita yang hamil di luar pernikahan harus dirajam! Sungguh,  dengan mengatakan ‘Ya’ kepada Yesus, hidup Maria tidak lagi ‘normal’. Bahkan , seperti Yesus yang mengakhiri hidup-Nya di dunia ini dengan tragis, Mariapun mengikuti Dia sampai salib-Nya. Namun, dalam menghadapi segala pencobaan dan keperihan hidup, Maria tidak goyah dan berdiri tegak sampai akhir. Sementara murid-murid laki-laki yang lain melarikan diri dari Yesus, Maria ada di sana di kaki salib-Nya, tidak menangis, tidak berlutut dan tidak mengeluh, tetapi ia berdiri dengan keteguhan hati melihat buah dari rahimnya disiksa dan dibunuh seperti binatang. Sama seperti Maria, hidup kita di dalam Kristus dapat membawa banyak konsekuensi yang tidak diinginkan: jujur​​, sementara lainnya mengatakan kebohongan, memaafkan, sementara lainnya membalas dendam, dan mengasihi, sementara yang lain hanya bisa membenci. Namun, kita belajar dari Maria bahwa Kristus akan senantiasa memberdayakan kita untuk berdiri dengan ketegaran hati sampai akhir.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno , OP