The Gospel for the solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The octave day of the Nativity of the Lord is taken from Luke 2, 1621. The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem 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. And Mary kept all these things reflecting on them in her heart.
And 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 the circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When you think about these stories, they have such an interesting twist to them. The unexpected, the one you wouldn’t expect to come forward and say something like these shepherds said had an experience with an angel that told them that they would encounter this. And you think about who shepherds were those days. They were sort of bikers, you know, just out there in the world.
But what a beautiful image of the ones who come to recognize Jesus for who he is, than the people who worked in the way that Jesus symbolically longed to work. The shepherds were told by an angel that a new shepherd was coming, one beyond their imagining, one beyond their abilities. And they were delighted to share this message. And you wonder how the people around these stories, how they must have pondered them and wondered about them. We are asked to do the same thing. What a wonderful affirmation to the role of Jesus as our shepherd in this apparition of an angel to these men.
After the music, I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer. Others story after story around your coming into the world as a human being, as our Savior. Keep us open to ways in which you continue to show us the mystery of who you are and how you’re working in our life. Give us time to reflect, to know you and to expect signs and wonders. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
