New Year’s Day is celebrated in the Church as the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Our divine mother can help us to set out on the right foot as we begin the next leg of our journey in faith.
In the stable, where she had just given birth, Mary received some curious visitors. These were not the kings and established rulers of the day; instead these were shepherds, people who were often seen from afar but people with whom few others would dare to associate. What did she think when she heard them knocking? She probably didn’t have the strength to turn them away. And as they recounted their experience of meeting the angelic choirs, perhaps on the outside she smiled politely, but on the inside, Saint Luke tells us that all those who heard the shepherds speak were amazed at what they said (Lk 2:18).
Perhaps we have known what it’s like to be amazed by news that is shared by someone else, but how often do we actually choose to treasure these words and ponder them in our hearts (Lk 2:19)? This is the wisdom that Mary shares with us today.
Life does not just happen around us. If we look through the lens of faith, we will soon see that God is all around us, using the events of every day life to reach out to us and to speak to us about his plan for us. In fact, we have gathered here today because when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son (Gal 4:4) into the world so that we might all realize the fact that we are sons and daughters of God (cf Gal 4:6). This truth too is worth pondering in the depths of our hearts.
If we were to learn how to ponder the significance of life’s events in our hearts like Mary did, perhaps we too might see life in a different way. In fact, we might even look to God at the beginning of this new year and ask him to bless us and keep us, to make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us in the coming months, to look lovingly upon us and to grant us the gift of his peace (cf Num 6:24-27).
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