Charity registration No. SC002876   Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Main Menu Notices 2 Page 4 Page 5 Notices Sunday January 1st. 2012 New Year's Day  The Motherhood of Our Blessed Lady The Church dedicates the first day of the New Year to the Motherhood of  Mary. She is truly the Mother of God-made-man, and since the earliest  days,she has been called Mother of God. Never for a moment did sin enter  Mary's soul. By a special dispensation of God, she was preserved from  original sin. God  prepared for himself a spotless dwelling where he could take on our flesh,  and become one like us in all things - but sin. The Church Council met at  Ephesus in the year 431 to oppose the heretic, Nestorius, who claimed that  Mary was only the mother of Christ, Christotokos, not the Mother of  God, Theotokos. He was denounced by the Council who proclaimed Mary  truly to be the Mother of God. That night excited people ran through the  town of Ephesus with lighted torches shouting joyfully Theotokos.  Feast of the Holy Family (Usually the first Sunday after Christmas)  We can only try to imagine the depth and wonder of Mary's love for her  child, knowing that he was also truly God. During the nine months she  carried Christ in her womb, how intimate was her relationship with him.  Her whole life was devoted to bringing him up, and she would suffer so  much for him. There were the years of exile in Egypt to safeguard the  child from Herod,  and then a decision  to settle in  Nazareth, an area  where Jesus would  be safe. These must have been happy years as Mary and Joseph watched the child grow  into a youth and into manhood. The only mention of Jesus during this period  was when he was twelve years old and was lost for three days and was finally  found in the temple. We can only try to imagine the fear in Mary's heart that  something terrible may have happened to Jesus, and then the joy and relief when  he was found safe in the temple teaching the learned doctors. (We remember in  our prayers the McCanns whose daughter, Madeleine, was abducted while  they were on holiday in Portugal))  Jesus would have learned the skill of a carpenter from Joseph, and as he became  older, his work would have contributed to the upkeep of the home.  >>>>>>