A PRAYER: HELP US ENTER THE NEW YEAR
"God of all time, help us enter the New Year quietly, thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others, mindful that our steps make an impact and our words carry power. May we walk gently. May we speak only after we have listened well. Creator of all life, help us enter the New Year reverently, aware that you have endowed every creature and plant, every person and habitat with beauty and purpose. May we regard the world with tenderness. May we honor rather than destroy. Lover of all souls, help us enter the New Year joyfully, willing to laugh and dance and dream, remembering our many gifts with thanks and looking forward to blessings yet to come. May we welcome your lavish love in this New Year, and may the grace and peace of Christ bless us now and in the days ahead. Amen."
-Vinita Hampton Wright
Yep, I said it, Merry Christmas!!! Isn't it wonderful that as Catholics we have whole seasons to ponder the wonderful mysteries of our faith!! It's the New Year BUT it's still the Christmas season. It's still time to contemplate "Emmanuel, God with us" and what that means for our humanity and divinity, for our gifts and our deficits, for our living and our dying... So, no need to rush around taking down all of your decorations today. Sit for a moment in the light of your Christmas tree. Gaze upon your manger with the Wise Men in attendance (today we celebrated Epiphany!) and ponder the greatest gift of Christmas, and then take a few moments to consider what gift you, like the magi, will offer to the Christ child in the New Year.
On January 1, during this wonderful, joyful season of Christmas, we also celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Father Rob's homily during the vigil on Friday was all about hope. We are called to be people of hope, and Mary's example of faith in difficult circumstances inspires us to look at each day through the lens of hope. When Mary was young and expecting, or giving birth in a stable, or fleeing with an infant to Egypt, or standing at the foot of the cross, how else could she have endured it all unless she had been a woman of great faith who hoped in all that had been promised. Here is what Pope Francis said in his homily yesterday:
"At the beginning of the new year let us place ourselves under the protection of this woman, the Holy Mother of God who is our mother. Help us to guard and meditate on everything, without fear of trials, in the joyful certainty that the Lord is faithful and knows how to transform crosses into resurrections."
The first reading from the Mass of the Solemnity of Mary was Numbers 6:22-27:
The LORD said to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.”
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.”
Which reminds me of this beautiful song:
And that is my wish for you in the New Year and always,
lyn