Happy New Year!
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
We celebrate a loving and nurturing Mary, mother of Jesus, and our mother.
We celebrate a fearful and troubled Mary, who at the angel Gabriel’s greeting humbled herself in trust and obedience, giving her “yes” to God and paving the way for our salvation.
We celebrate a joyous Mary, who at her cousin Elizabeth’s greeting, proclaimed her joy in, and devotion to, our loving and merciful God.
We celebrate a patient and courageous Mary, who traveled a long distance across rough terrain only to give birth in a stable.
We celebrate an anxious Mary, who twelve years later during that Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem desperately searched for her child when he disappeared.
We celebrate a trusting Mary, who twenty years later, at that wedding feast in Cana, uttered the simple yet profound “do whatever he tells you” underlining her absolute and unwavering trust in her son and her Savior – her affirmation that for God nothing is impossible.
We celebrate a faithful Mary, who during another Passover, stood at the foot of her son’s cross with dignity and courage even amidst her trauma, grief, and uncertainty.
And today, two-thousand years later, we celebrate Mary – our model – who by her witness to God’s goodness and love gives us something very special to aspire to and imitate.
Here’s a nice reflection from Father Francis Fernandez –
“With confidence of sons and daughters we go to our Mother Mary so that she may help us live in holiness every day of this new year; so that she can give us the impulse to begin again when we fail; so that she may intercede with her divine Son to lead us to spiritual renewal and growth in our love of God and service to our neighbor. We place in Mary’s hands our desire to identify ourselves with Jesus and to be faithful disciples.”
Happy New Year!