GOD OFFERS US NEW
BEGINNINGS
New Year 2013: Mary, Mother of God
New Year 2013: Mary, Mother of God
Another doomsday prophecy has
passed.
December 21, 2012 came and went…
just like any other day in the calendar.
Except that, from the start of last year, everybody was gripped with
fear that this day would be the end of the world. Indeed, the Mayans who made their calendar are no longer
here to explain their thoughts.
Their ancient world has ended and their rich civilization with it. New
Agers read doom into the Mayan calculation. But the end? It is not yet a thing
for us, as you and I now fully know.
We are not lacking in the
so-called “preppers” who make it their focus to stop the routine of their daily
lives and prepare for the worst to come. The world is full of people who spread fear and disquiet among their
family and friends.
This means we never learned from
our past. There have been and will
be many prophecies of doom, maybe this year or maybe in the coming of couple of
years. The world will hear many
future rumors of the so-called “end”, just to wake up the following morning and
find themselves surviving for many more years!
Today we celebrate the New Year
once more. Greetings to all of you and to your loved ones from our parish
community.
Each New Year is a testimony that
for God, the world does not end, for His love never ends. Our lives continue to
be in God’s hands. God is not the God of terminations, but the God of
beginnings. He is the God of
second chances, many chances, the
God of opportunities to come. Our
God is the God of hope. In him,
hope for good things never runs dry.
There are indeed many ends, many
stops, many doomsdays in our history.
But these do not come from God.
They come from us, men and women of today.
When we remove God from our lives
and banish him from society, we put an end to meaningful living and right
relationships. When we prioritize condoms over values and spirituality among
the population, we crush character and virtues. When we follow the dictates of wrong reasoning and polished
rhetoric of corrupt leaders, we say “no” to a future where our children and
children’s children can live in prosperity and peace. When as Church and as Catholics, we are satisfied with
praying and devotions without witnessing and involvement, we pronounce a death
sentence to the flourishing of faith.
The end will come, in fact,
regularly comes, when we decide to ignore God in our lives and follow our will
instead.
In the New Year, the Lord reminds
us how good his intentions are for our lives as he has repeatedly
promised. But he also challenges
us to join him in transforming the world and making things new again. it is our
job then, as Christians to make the year new by our fidelity to the Lord.
In the gospel (Luke 2), observe
the two humble people surrounding the Child Jesus. These two were the great cooperators of God in renewing the
history of the world. Joseph in
his silence and obedience made the will of God the only center of his
life. Mary, with whose feast we
open the year, willingly offered all her life so that can God enter and be part
of our human journey.
While people speak of doom and
see only darkness, Mary and Joseph refused to join in their vain chorus. Instead they offered themselves as
vehicles of the beginning, the star of God’s interaction with a desperate
world.
Today is the New Year, not an end
but a beginning. This is our
chance to welcome Jesus and contribute to his cause of changing the world, the
church and our selves by opening our selves to the love of God. This year, may
we be prophets of hope, instruments of faith, living testimonies of love for
others, starting with the people we live closely with.
We begin not with doomsday
predictions that fail. We begin
the year powerfully with prayer and blessings. Nothing can harm us. Nothing can defeat us or pull us down. Open your heart to this blessing from
our first reading (Num 6): 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!
HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, PRAY FOR US!
