Luke 2: 16-21 – Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (Audio Bible, Spoken Word)
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
We discover in these verses of the Bible two distinct and complementary impulses which are at work in our relationship with God, exemplified by the shepherds and by Mary.
The shepherds are the first to hear the good news about the birth of Jesus, proclaimed to them by angels, as heaven bows toward Earth, in order to include and redeem the Earth. It was to a shepherd, Abraham, that God gave his promise to save mankind. In Jesus’ time, the shepherds were marginal people, disrespected by mainstream society because they lived with the animals for which they cared. The incarnation, the key event in the history of mankind and our salvation, takes place in a sense very quietly indeed – though the shepherds experiencing the presence of the army of angels might have thought otherwise! God’s love so often comes to us on the periphery and as we least expect it to be made manifest in our lives.
The shepherds are full of joy and are eager to see the Lord. Their sense of God is not passive; rather they respond most actively, in haste, longing to find what has been announced to them. Theirs is a living faith. We may recall how Mary went with haste to see Elizabeth, when Mary had first received news that she was chosen by God to bear Jesus.
The testimony of the shepherds carries great conviction. The shepherds tell of what they have seen and heard and all who hear what they have to say are filled with wonder. The shepherds glorify and praise God. The most improbable people have found in the most improbable place the deliverance all Israel has long prayed and waited for. The people are in awe at the mystery of the Incarnation.
Mary’s response to the visit of the shepherds is of great serenity and gives to us a model of prayer and contemplation. Mary keeps these things, and ponders them in her heart. Here is silence and wisdom. Struck with the enormity of what is happening, Mary centres herself in a quiet space, showing great respect to the Lord and respect for His plans for us, at the heart of which our Lady has found herself.
We are invited through the reading of these verses to imitate both the shepherds and Mary, to rush toward Jesus and give powerful witness to the wonderful news, that God has saved us, and to keep these truths close by us and ponder them in our hearts. There is great energy and prayerful contemplation in balance. We discover that God is with us.
God, our Father,
since you gave mankind a saviour through blessed Mary,
virgin and mother,
grant that we may feel the power of her intercession
when she pleads for us with Jesus Christ, your Son,
the author of life,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Psalm 65 is a song of gratitude and praise to the Divine. In this beautiful hymn, the psalmist reflects on the majesty and mercy of God, expressing a deep sense of awe and thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings bestowed upon the earth. The psalm opens with a resounding declaration that praises are reserved for God in Zion, the sacred city, and vows made to the Almighty will be fulfilled [ … ]
Psalm 42 expresses deep spiritual longing. The psalm compares the psalmist’s thirst for God to a deer panting for water brooks, conveying intensity of desire to be in God’s presence [ … ]
Office Of Readings | Eastertide Week 3, Tuesday | A Reading From The Sermons Of Saint Augustine | Let Us Sing To The Lord A Song Of Love ‘Let us sing to the Lord a song of love.’ Commentary | ‘Let Us Sing To The Lord A Song Of Love’ By Saint Augustine Saint Augustine’s sermon on Psalm 149, expounding the verse ‘Sing to the Lord a new song’, draws on his deeply theological, philosophical, and pastoral mind to deliver a rich meditation on love, new life in Christ, and the moral integrity of worship. This reading, likely delivered in the context of the Easter season and baptismal catechesis, reflects the tone of joyful renewal that characterizes the liturgical spirit of this time. Singing As The Expression Of Love At the heart of Augustine’s sermon is the identification of song not simply as musical praise, but as a metaphor for love itself. Augustine draws a profound connection: ‘A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love.’ In Augustine’s view, everyone loves something, but the challenge of the Christian life lies in rightly ordering that love. This echoes his central theme in the Confessions and De Doctrina Christiana: that disordered love lies at the root of sin, while properly ordered love leads the soul back to God. Augustine’s theology of love is Trinitarian. He cites 1 John 4:19, ‘We love him because he first loved us,’ to emphasize that divine love originates with God and is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Thus, the capacity to love God is itself a gift of grace, not a natural human achievement. This affirms a core teaching of Augustine’s mature theology: human will is insufficient for salvation without divine initiative. The ‘New Song’ And The New Life The idea of the ‘new song’ sung by ‘new men’ belongs to a broader Augustinian anthropology and eschatology. The ‘new song’ corresponds to the ‘new covenant’ and the ‘new man’, who has been reborn through Christ. Baptism, as Augustine suggests, is the gateway into this renewal, aligning this sermon with the mystagogical homilies delivered during the Octave of Easter. It is in the newness of life, rather than in the novelty of melody, that the ‘new song’ truly resides. The liturgical element of the sermon is reinforced by the line ‘his praise is in the assembly of the saints’. Augustine emphasizes that singing praise is a communal act of the Church, the Body of Christ, which is itself the locus of love, truth, and divine indwelling. This is reminiscent of the ecclesiology of the early Church as found in Acts 2:42-47 and carried forward in Augustine’s vision of the City of God. Integration Of Worship And Moral Life Augustine challenges his listeners to ensure that their outward praise is matched by their inner life: ‘Sing with your voices, your hearts, your lips and your lives.’ This insistence on the unity of worship and ethics is characteristic of his pastoral emphasis. It also reflects the prophetic tradition (cf. Amos 5:23-24, Isaiah 1:13-17), where God rejects worship that is not accompanied by justice and righteousness. To sing truly, then, is to live truly. Augustine’s call to his congregation to be the praise of God with their lives mirrors the Pauline exhortation in Romans 12:1, to ‘present your bodies as a living sacrifice’. Thus, the life of the believer is liturgy enacted in the world. Philosophical Underpinnings Underlying this sermon is a distinctly Neo-Platonic structure of thought. Augustine conceives of love as both a participation in the divine and as the means of ascent to God. When he writes, ‘Love me and you will have me, for you would be unable to love me if you did not possess me already,’ he echoes Plotinian ideas of the soul’s return to the One, yet he firmly roots them in a Christian framework where God acts first in love. Practical Exhortation Augustine’s conclusion is a call to moral and spiritual authenticity. He exhorts his listeners, recently baptized or long initiated, to be not only singers of praise but embodiments of it: ‘If you desire to praise him, then live what you express. Live good lives, and you yourselves will be his praise.’ In this, Augustine provides not only doctrinal teaching but a concrete rule of life. This sermon is a microcosm of Augustine’s theological genius: biblical exegesis, Trinitarian theology, pastoral urgency, and philosophical depth converge in his exhortation to sing a new song. In post-Easter joy, Augustine invites all believers to live out their baptismal identity by becoming praise itself. Worship, for him, is not merely what the Church does; it is what the Church is when it lives in love. A Reading From The Sermons Of Saint Augustine | Let Us Sing To The Lord A Song Of Love Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise is in the assembly of the saints. We are urged to sing a new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has learned to love the new life has learned to sing a new song, and the new song reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will belong to the new covenant. There is not one who does not love something, but the question is, what to love. The psalms do not tell us not to love, but to choose the object of our love. But how can we choose unless we are first chosen? We cannot love unless someone has loved us first. Listen to the apostle John: We love him, because he first loved us. The source of man’s love for God can only be found in the fact that God loved […]
