Thursday, January 1 : Blessed Guerric of Igny

If the Apostle, servant of Christ, continues to bring forth his children through his care and ardent desire until Christ is formed in them (cf. Gal 4:19), how much more is this true of Christ’s own mother! Paul fathered them by preaching the Word which regenerated them; Mary did it in a much holier and more divine way by generating the Word itself. I praise in Paul the mystery of preaching, but I admire and venerate more in Mary the mystery of generation. She who is the Virgin-Mother, she who glories in having borne the Only-begotten Son of the Father, embraces that same Only-begotten of hers in all her members and so can be truly called Mother of all in whom she recognizes her Christ to have been formed, or in whom she knows he is being formed. Then again, is it not true that her children seem to recognise her as their Mother by a kind of instinctive devotion which faith gives them as second nature, so that first and foremost in all their needs and dangers they run to call upon her name just as children run to their mother’s breast? Already we really dwell in the help of the Mother of the Most High; we do live in her protection, as if under the shadow of her wing. So I do not think it is absurd to think that it is indeed these children that the prophet is talking about when he makes this promise: “Your sons will live in you” (Is 62.5; LXX); without losing sight of the fact that this prophecy applies mainly to the Church. already we all dwell in the help of the Mother of the Most High; we do live in her protection (Ps. 90: 1, 4), as if under the shadow of her wing (Ps. 16:8). And afterwards in participating in her glory we shall be cherished as if in her bosom. Then a single cry of rejoicing and thanksgiving will be heard addressed to this Mother: : “The dwelling place of all of us who rejoice and are glad is in you” (cf. Ps 86:7; LXX) holy Mother of God.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team