Mary, Mother of God, Jan.

1, 2012 (Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21) The blessing from the Numbers reading rhymes throughout in Hebrew. The Lord bless you was interpreted by the rabbis as meaning bless with material goods. The Lord keep you means to watch out for you or to guard you. To let the face shine upon you means to deal kindly with or to allow those who are blessed to enjoy the beatific vision. To be gracious in the context means may the Lord be merciful or may the Lord give you grace in the eyes of other human beings. To give you peace means far more than an end of hostilities. It means granting completion or fullness or satisfaction, an at ones with creation. One Jewish commentary on the blessing noted about the Hebrew text that the first blessing has three words, the second five, and the third seven. They remind us of the foundation of all blessings: the three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel), the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and the seven heavens. We who hear this blessing in English would not make that connection. But the words of blessing on the first day of a new year are pretty much all we want to hear at the beginning of a year. Obviously in its Jewish setting this blessing was used many times in the course of a year whenever the priest pronounced a blessing for the people. Another Jewish Midrash on this blessing demonstrates how rabbis taught about the word. Israel asked God; Why do you tell the priests to bless us? We desire Your blessing alone! Said the Holy One: Although I have told the priests to bless you, I shall stand in their company to give effect to the benediction. Therefore, at the end of the section it states explicitly (vs. 27) I will bless them. Paul has contended throughout Galatians that Christians are freed from the Law of Moses. In the selection today he notes that God sent the Son, born of a woman and under the law to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As sons (and therefore heirs) we enter into a new relationship with God. We are no longer slaves (to the Law of Moses) but sons of a loving Father. Normally I am very sensitive to the use of sexist language, but in this context Paul is actually arguing a fine point of Jewish Law. A legal son (not a daughter) enjoyed inheritance rights. Through Christ, who is Gods Son, we become legal heirs with Christ and as sons of God our rights of inheritance triumph over the law. Thats the nub of Pauls argument here and why he says we have been freed from the yoke of the Law of Moses through Christ. It requires the use of son terminology in order to make the legal argument. Paul argues elsewhere that in

Christ there is neither male nor female, Gentile or Jew, slave or free; in Christ all are one. But here the legal argument requires the use of the male references. Finally to keep in the spirit of the season we return to the shepherds visit to the manger, which was one of the readings for Christmas. We have to remember that we are somewhat limited in the Gospel readings available for the Christmas season since only Matthew and Luke provided anything. So we have the shepherds returning for a visit while Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. The last line of the Gospel notes that when eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus. The official name went along with his being circumcised at the time. Thats what Paul meant by born under the law in the second reading. Older Catholics will recall that until 1960, January 1 was always known by the Feast of the Circumcision, which seems like a strange thing to celebrate, especially since it is not required of Christians. Happy New Year. Fr. Lawrence Hummer