New Years Day, Feast of Mary
the Mother of God
Seems like we begin a new year people like to make New Year’s resolutions. And I thought of one early this morning and
it would go something like this; that I promise not to preach any homilies that
last longer than 15 minutes. Huh? That was a backhanded one wasn’t it? It gives me a lot of room. But you know, don’t make resolutions that
you’re not going to keep. So maybe we
need to keep them very simple.
And I think that’s why when
we begin a new year the church makes this feast day Mary the Mother of
God. In a very simple line from the
gospel, “Mary kept all these things reflecting on them in her heart.” And to me that would be something that I have
decided to do in this year, 2010 is to have that sense of reflection, that
sense of prayer within. We have so much
noise around us, so many distractions.
And perhaps the best thing that you and I would want to give to
ourselves as we begin a new year would be some quiet and some stillness, and to
follow Mary in reflecting.
Another way to ask that is
what are you and I doing with the life God gave us? And that can be a pretty deep question. So think of it this way. One person told me that in her prayer she
heard God saying this, “Give me half your heart and I’ll show you half My power. Give me all
your heart and I’ll change your life.”
Do we want to give God only
half our heart and be content with that?
Or are we willing in a new year to let go of the past whatever happened
in 2009, begin again and say, “This is the year Lord that I will give You my whole heart.”
We can only do that if, like Mary, we go deep within. If we just stay on the surface then not a
whole lot is going to change.
Certainly Mary, reflect on
her life. Here she was before she gave
birth to Jesus. A young woman, probably
maybe only 14-years-old, pregnant, espoused.
Everything in that society and culture said she should have been put
away, should have been stoned, put to death even. The scriptures tell us Joseph, being an
upright man said, “No. I’ll do this very
quietly. I’ll take her as my wife and
we’ll move forward.”
Think of Mary. If one of your daughters had come up to you
at that point in her life and said, “Guess what mom and dad?” You would have been embarrassed, you would
have been fearful not knowing quite what to do.
Mary said, “Yes, I’ll give You God my whole heart.” And history has changed.
So as we begin a new year,
choose. Will this be a year of daring, a
year of healing, a year of love, or a year of consent like Mary saying, “Yes.”
I started out my Mass by
saying you can live in fear or we can enjoy the adventure. I choose to enjoy the adventure. I will choose to be like Mary and to reflect
on everything that God gives to me every day.
Say, “Yes” and let this be a great year for you and for me.