Happy New Year 2007
Happy New Year To You
One More Year to bear fruits in our Tree of Life
“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.” (Num.6:22-27).
Happy new year my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The name "January" comes from the Roman god Janus, the god with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the New Year ahead of us.
We do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.
The gospel today presents Mary to us as a model of that new life in Christ that all of us wish for ourselves in the new year. There we see that Mary was prepared to do something to realize this goal. What did she do? We read that the shepherds, when they went to adore the Child Jesus in the manger, told all that the angels had said to them. "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Again after the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, we are told that "His mother treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). Mary was a woman who valued the word of God, who treasured it and made time to meditate and ponder it. It is true that the holiness of Mary is attributed to the grace of God, but this should not make us forget that she needed to make an effort in order to cooperate with the grace of God. She pondered the word of God in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life as the handmaid of God. Let us today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure God's word and ponder it in our hearts. Then shall we be able to realize our New Year resolution of a new life in union with God.
As the New Year begins, let us see this year as another chance given to us to get it right, to grow in familiarity with God our loving Father, and to grow in our awareness of ourselves as God’s beloved children. Put more goodness in all that you do in all places so that the bad will not overcome the good.
Let me suggest some New Year resolutions. First and last and always, there must be prayer. Daily, we must seek the gift of true peace from the Prince of Peace, asking the help of Mary, His Mother and ours. I strongly encourage the prayer of the Rosary each day. Take Mary with you wherever you may go. Invite her into your whole life known and unknown. If Mary is there for you, then she will notice what is lacking in your life and she will ask her Son to give to you. We never know when our wine will get over. But Mary will knew when it happens to us if she is invited in our life like at the wedding at Cana.
Secondly, Recall St. Paul’s advice to us this past Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Family: "Put on … heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another" (Col 3:12-13). Of all these concrete gestures of peace, forgiveness is the most difficult for us to do.
Have A New Attitude for A New Year. Some great people of history have had something to say about this. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference”. Albert Einstein added, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity”. Every New Year provides fresh opportunities for personal change and growth.
Is your glass half full or is it half empty? As you begin a new year, your interior attitude about the events that shape your life will determine your success throughout this year and even your physical health.
Last but one. End all negative self-talk. What is self-talk? Self-talk is the endless torrent of thoughts that run through your mind every day. These habitual thoughts can be positive or negative. If these thoughts are negative, then your outlook on life will be pessimistic.
A plaque hangs on Arnold Palmer’s office wall with these words: “If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win but think you can't, it's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can”.
Finally, Be courageous to face the life problems. If you start running from the problems of life you may not have time to rest. Have trust in God and believe that God will be always with us until the end of time. Like St Paul asks. If God is with us who can be against us? If you say yes to the will of God, God will give the courage to fulfill it.
Indeed, it is appropriate to begin a new year with Mary, the Mother of God, for we are to bring Christ to the world as she did. No better resolution could any disciple of the Lord make than to imitate His Holy Mother and bear Him — bring Him — into each day of 2007. Happy New Year.
“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.” (Num.6:22-27).
Happy new year my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The name "January" comes from the Roman god Janus, the god with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the New Year ahead of us.
We do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.
The gospel today presents Mary to us as a model of that new life in Christ that all of us wish for ourselves in the new year. There we see that Mary was prepared to do something to realize this goal. What did she do? We read that the shepherds, when they went to adore the Child Jesus in the manger, told all that the angels had said to them. "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Again after the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, we are told that "His mother treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). Mary was a woman who valued the word of God, who treasured it and made time to meditate and ponder it. It is true that the holiness of Mary is attributed to the grace of God, but this should not make us forget that she needed to make an effort in order to cooperate with the grace of God. She pondered the word of God in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life as the handmaid of God. Let us today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure God's word and ponder it in our hearts. Then shall we be able to realize our New Year resolution of a new life in union with God.
As the New Year begins, let us see this year as another chance given to us to get it right, to grow in familiarity with God our loving Father, and to grow in our awareness of ourselves as God’s beloved children. Put more goodness in all that you do in all places so that the bad will not overcome the good.
Let me suggest some New Year resolutions. First and last and always, there must be prayer. Daily, we must seek the gift of true peace from the Prince of Peace, asking the help of Mary, His Mother and ours. I strongly encourage the prayer of the Rosary each day. Take Mary with you wherever you may go. Invite her into your whole life known and unknown. If Mary is there for you, then she will notice what is lacking in your life and she will ask her Son to give to you. We never know when our wine will get over. But Mary will knew when it happens to us if she is invited in our life like at the wedding at Cana.
Secondly, Recall St. Paul’s advice to us this past Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Family: "Put on … heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another" (Col 3:12-13). Of all these concrete gestures of peace, forgiveness is the most difficult for us to do.
Have A New Attitude for A New Year. Some great people of history have had something to say about this. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference”. Albert Einstein added, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity”. Every New Year provides fresh opportunities for personal change and growth.
Is your glass half full or is it half empty? As you begin a new year, your interior attitude about the events that shape your life will determine your success throughout this year and even your physical health.
Last but one. End all negative self-talk. What is self-talk? Self-talk is the endless torrent of thoughts that run through your mind every day. These habitual thoughts can be positive or negative. If these thoughts are negative, then your outlook on life will be pessimistic.
A plaque hangs on Arnold Palmer’s office wall with these words: “If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win but think you can't, it's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can”.
Finally, Be courageous to face the life problems. If you start running from the problems of life you may not have time to rest. Have trust in God and believe that God will be always with us until the end of time. Like St Paul asks. If God is with us who can be against us? If you say yes to the will of God, God will give the courage to fulfill it.
Indeed, it is appropriate to begin a new year with Mary, the Mother of God, for we are to bring Christ to the world as she did. No better resolution could any disciple of the Lord make than to imitate His Holy Mother and bear Him — bring Him — into each day of 2007. Happy New Year.
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