Happy New Year!
On this New Year’s Day, like every New Year’s Day, we celebrate The Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God. We celebrate Mary, our Mother.
In the gospel of today’s Mass (Luke 2:16-21) we see Mary welcome the shepherds into the stable, into the life of the Holy Family, into the joy of Christ’s birth, into the love of Jesus.
And of course Mary invites all of us the same way. Mary invites all of us to gaze upon the child in the manger. Mary encourages us to embrace God’s invitation to accept Jesus into our lives, to experience the love that God lavishly bestows upon us, to share that love. Mary encourages us to do precisely what she did – accept Jesus into our life and carry Jesus into the world.
Today, we can also contemplate the shepherds, and aspire to imitate them. Like the shepherds, we humbly open ourselves to God so that we may hear God’s good news. We listen for God’s voice and look to discern God’s message. And then, like those shepherds, we make a conscious decision to act. Just like those shepherds, we “go in haste” to find Jesus, to welcome Jesus into our lives, to experience the love that God has for us. And then, like those shepherds, we share the good news of our salvation with others, and give praise and thanks to God for all of the blessings he bestows upon us.
So as we begin another new year, we can resolve to imitate Mary’s trust, faithfulness, and generosity. We can resolve to imitate the shepherds attentiveness, humility, and courageousness. We take on all of these dispositions so that we might embrace Mary’s invitation – God’s invitation – to encounter Jesus, to experience his presence more and more each day, to grow in an increasingly intimate relationship with him, to become empowered by his loving presence. And then we go out and share what we experience with others so that they might experience the same, so that they might be empowered by God’s love.
Happy New Year!