Une Minute avec Marie
Faire connaître et aimer Marie
Eight days ago we celebrated the birth in Bethlehem of the Son of God who "became a child to make us become men" (Saint Ambrose). Today, one week after the birth of Jesus, the liturgy invites us to celebrate the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God: she "who brought to the light the King who rules Heaven and Earth forever" (Entrance Antiphon of today's Mass).
Today's liturgy makes us meditate on the Word made man and reiterates that he was born of the Virgin. He is the "blessed fruit of the womb" of this Virgin who found in this "fruit" all that Eve had desired when she ate the fruit but did not find. In fact, in her fruit, Eve desired three things that the devil had falsely promised her, namely:
By eating the forbidden fruit, Eve violated the image and likeness to God. In the blessed fruit of her womb, Mary, and with her all Christians, found what Eve was seeking: union with God through Christ and likeness to Him. Eve sought pleasure and joy, but she found pain and nakedness. In the fruit of the Virgin's womb we find grace and salvation: whoever eats this fruit will have eternal life. Eve sought transitory beauty and picked a deadly fruit; Mary gave humanity the most beautiful fruit that the angels will ever see: he is the most beautiful among the sons of men (Ps 44:3) because he is the splendor of the Father's glory (Heb 1:3); Jesus, the Lord.
Therefore, "let us look for what we desire in the fruit of the Blessed Virgin, because this is the fruit blessed by God. The Virgin is therefore blessed but her fruit, Jesus, is even more blessed" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Hail Mary).
Mons. Francesco Follo
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to UNESCO, Paris
https://fr.zenit.org/2016/12/30/notre-dame-mere-de-dieu-et-de-la-paix-par-mgr-follo/