Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

I’m not certain how politically correct it is, in this day and age, to refer to Housweives but in a recent survey it emerged that Housewives would be paid more than the average worker if they received the going rate for their household chores. A poll of 4,000 housewives for a networking website (alljoinon.com) suggested that the average mum worked for nearly nine hours a day every day. The website said a housewife would earn almost £30,000 a year if she was employed to do all the same errands. The average annual UK wage is £23,700, according to official figures. Some 71% of those polled agreed that successfully running the family home was a full-time job.

Certainly family life has changed in the last few decades: roles have been changed, some households are one-parent families, in others the wife is the main earner, in others - jobs are equally shared. Today, as we celebrate and bless God for Mary it’s worth thinking about how much she is worth. Not what she is worth in terms of an imagined salary for her household chores -but what she succeeded in doing, and how we have benefited from what she has done. It is through Mary’s response to God that Jesus comes into the world.

Would Mary have looked upon what she was doing as a chore? I imagine there were some things that she found confusing or difficult, some things that were hard work or demanding. I imagine that running the family home would, at times, have a rather bizarre touch to it. But Mary had accepted God’s way for her life. The household of which she is a part, is a household that is centred on God. In the gospel reading we see, just after the birth, those strange shepherd visitors who arrived at the door of the stable and who come to see her child. Everyone who heard what they had to say are astonished. But Mary treasures all these things and ponders them in her heart. She holds them dear. There is, in Mary’s life, a treasure beyond all imagining. Her worth comes not from some imagined salary or the hours of work she puts in, but from God who has filled her with grace and invited her to participate in his plans for the world. So we Hail Mary, generation after generation, we call her blessed, for in giving her life over to God, God gives Jesus to us.

Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

The illustration for the homily may be found here