Start the New Year with Mary, Our Mother

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Gospel Lk 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
Start the New Year with Mary, our Mother
A blessed and joyous New Year. I remembered the celebrations of New Year when I was younger in the Philippines was always looking forward to after the 25th of Christmas. We would buy different fruits to display at our dinner table, go to stores to buy our last Christmas presents, clean our rooms as we would start the New Year by putting an order in anything, spend our little savings to purchase firecrackers, paper caps, pulling of strings, mini-bombs (only an adult could ignite them), assembled “triangulos,” on a string with a last “bawang,” baby rockets, kwitis, and fountains our versions of mini fireworks displays (which only the rich could afford), etc. Funny names? Indeed, while the thick smoke enveloped us, our neighbors would like to outdo each other, the louder the explosions the better. In addition, there were practices, traditions, and elements mostly handed down from generation to generation. To name a few: before the midnight strikes: we should visit our grandparents’ homes, wear colorful attire polka dots included, put monies on our pockets, for short kids, they must cling on a bar for at least five minutes to make them taller, and to reconcile with one another.
Times have changed as we grew older. Those years were youthful fun, writing of New Year resolutions (only a few made it every year though), and all the New Year activities that somehow set it apart from the rest of the days. Now that we are still coping with the pandemic, many opt to stay home, watch movies, have a quiet dinner with their families, and rest. Those past years of my growing up years were still be remembered as one of the happiest, however as New Year comes, a deeper significance of the celebration is enriched and ripened by the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God. We wish and pray for one another like the prayer of Moses to Aaron in the First Reading: 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! As we call our Father, Abba, Paul exhorts the Galatians that we all called His children, sons, and daughters and no longer slaves, but heirs of the Kingdom (Second Reading).
As we start the New Year on this special Marian Feast as the Mother of God, quite appropriate that we begin with a fresh disposition and renewed commitment to rely on the powerful intercession of our Heavenly Mother. Since 1868, instituted by St. Paul VI, the Church observes a yearly World Day of Peace. This year 2022 marks its 55th celebration. The yearly overarching theme is for us to pray for lasting peace in the world throughout the New Year. Pope Francis’ message is titled: Dialogue between generations, education, and work: tools for building lasting peace. He outlined three “paths for building a lasting peace”: promoting dialogue between generations, investing in education, and improving labor conditions. He called a new alliance between the young and elderly to address the problems of isolation and self-absorption heightened by the coronavirus pandemic. He added that that infrastructure should be geared more on investment in education and less in weaponry as he observes a “significant reduction” in education funding in recent years, while military spending had soared beyond Cold War levels.
Reflecting on the shepherds’ response when they saw the Infant Jesus, and spread the message to all, while Mary kept everything in her heart, we are absolutely moved to partake in this call to discipleship and mission. Mothers, like our Spiritual Mother, always want their children to grow up with the same noble and good qualities which they acquired from their own mothers or follow the most applicable even to surpass them, such as obedience, charity, sacrifice, purity, and fortitude. Being our mothers’ children, formed under their nurturing and protective care, Mother Mary also teaches us to obey with trusting faith to Our Father in heaven, His Word; to make the New Year meaningful by having every day a reason to live and be relevant in exercising our gifts especially of charity and becoming Jesus to others.
Mary is our model of prayer and faith. She brought her family to her Creator. The same desire we have with her, always constant, available, and faithful to God’s promises. We, therefore, must live with pure and holy life like our Heavenly Mother. And just as we learn from our natural mothers how to be good human beings, so we learn from Mary how to become mature Christians. She is the living and effective school where we acquire every virtue that leads to happiness and holiness. Her heart was constantly open to receiving God’s living Word at most of Christ’s incarnation. The shepherds met her with great joy and were inspired to follow her. Poor and lowly people were touched by Mary to reflect on God’s action as both a sign and a source of wisdom. We can learn from simple people, without doubt, that they could bring the message and truth from God when we are sometimes caught up by the limited, superficial, and ambiguous human wisdom that obscures the purity of God’s Words.
If one still believes in making a New Year’s resolution, why not make it to spend this year learning from our spiritual mother how to let God put order, peace, and wisdom into our lives, by “keeping all these things and reflecting on them in our hearts” through the Rosary, to visit the Blessed Sacrament regularly, read the Bible, pray constantly, and be engaged in charitable endeavors.
Start the year peacefully
All the fanfare is over, and the New Year has just started. Reflect on the things that matter in the heart. For sure you will find a treasure, but also things there you regret. Now is the moment to inaugurate a year of peace with Mary, our Mother.