Below is my homily - and some thoughts on the value of motherhood - for the New Year, on today's Soleminity of Mary, Mother of God.

I would be most grateful for your considered thoughts in the comments section. (The photo is of a very ancient image of Mary and Jesus located in the Benedictine Monestary, Subiaco, Italy.)

Of all the saints, Mary wins hands down at having the most titles to her name. She is the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate Conception, Queen of Heaven, the First Disciple, Help of Christians, and of course, our own Star of the Sea. Then there are all her titles associated with places: Our Lady of Lourdes, of Fatima, of Guadalupe, and our very Aussie title, Our Lady of the Southern Cross. Yet, Mary’s truly standout title, the one which gives significance to all the rest, is the one we celebrate at the beginning of each new year: Mary, the Mother of God. It is the first title she was given, and it is, by far and away, the most important one. Of all that can be said about Mary, it is her motherhood that most counts.

It was Mary’s unstinting generosity to the possibility of motherhood, and her humble welcoming of a child that allowed God the possibility of healing the wound that had separated all of humanity from him. God could not have saved the world without Mary’s motherly cooperation. We would have no Christmas to celebrate without Mary’s motherhood of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. So, the motherhood of Mary is key to understanding the ongoing importance and value of Mary, not just for us Christians, but for all humanity. Her motherhood is our eternal life.

It is somewhat disconcerting, therefore, that Mary’s motherly example of generosity and welcoming has become alarmingly devalued in our contemporary Western society. Somewhere during the 20^th Century our culture suddenly and rapidly began to turn it’s back on the immense value of motherhood for all of human society. The reasons why this happened are many and varied, and the consequences of certain actions unforeseen.

Some actions that brought about this decline of valuing motherhood were prompted by otherwise positive developments, like the increased access to education for girls, which has brought about a welcome reduction in poverty and oppression for women generally. Other, less positive social changes have had a more direct impact on the devaluing of motherhood, such as the widespread adoption of medical contraception or the legalisation of and government assistance for the termination of undesired pregnancies.

Whatever is to be made of such widespread social changes, it is a strange thing to me that we are left with a situation in which motherhood, and fatherhood for that matter, no longer stands as a positive thing in and of itself. These days, the only mothers presented to us for emulation are those who simultaneously hold down careers or who are celebrities. As a result, the value of being a mother is now portrayed as simply one factor in planning one’s working life. Just being a mum or dad, as such, has ceased to be a good in itself. And any woman who has the temerity to have a family of four kids or more is actually ridiculed and belittled.

What’s happened to motherhood and fatherhood? What’s happened to those great values of generosity and a welcoming heart that are a sign of accepting a pregnancy? What’s happened to the idea that a child is a gift for the world, not an added burden on society? In less than a century, motherhood have gone from being the great treasure and honour of human society, to being a medical condition that needs to be managed or dealt with.

So, on this lovely feast of Mary’s motherhood of Jesus, and at the beginning of this New Year, perhaps we are all being presented with a resolution to take up and a task to pursue. What can we each do to re-value parenthood, to re-value mothering and fathering, such that it once again is seen as a truly generous and welcoming gift to be given for the good of our world? May Mary, the Mother of God, help us in this task.