New Year 2009
Happy New Year 2009 my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The oldest holiday, or holy day, we know in the history of the human race is New Year’s. the ancient Romans celebrated New Year’s by exchanging coins which had the face of the god Janus on them. Janus is where we get the word “January.” The one special thing about the god Janus is he is two-faced. He has a face looking to the past and a face looking to the future. That is why the god Janus became the symbol of New Year’s where, just as we are today, we look at the past and give thanks for that. We look to the future and gather our hopes for that.
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.
Yesterday at midnight, the whole place of Times Squire went crazy. The confetti, the balloons, the blizzard of paper, the hundreds of thousands of screaming people on the road – shivering and celebrating and having the time of their lives. There is nothing quite like it. it is almost a ghost town with all the mess.
However, today Times Square is a very different place. The crews had worked through the night and everything is normal. Almost as if, nothing had happened Yesterday night. That is how we try to see our life at New Year’s – almost as if nothing had happened before. We are starting over. let’s begin again.
There is a song by Natasha Bedingfield that captures that kind of spirit. The song is called “Unwritten.” In part, it says:
“Drench yourself in words unspoken.Live your life with arms wide open.Today is where your book beginsThe rest is still unwritten.”
Today is where our book begins. The rest is still unwritten. But this January first, I would challenge you to make a different kind of resolution. Resolve to learn something from the woman we honor today. Resolve to welcome every blank page, every new start, with trust that God will see you through it – and then reflect on it in your heart. Just like Mary did. Today we celebrate Mary the Mother of God – Mary the mother of our salvation. Mary, the one who gave birth to a new beginning. 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.
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.
There are two parts in today’s second reading, taken from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians; the first part dwells on the incarnation, the mystery of the Son of God becoming human (Galatians 4:4-5). The second part dwells on sanctification, that mystery whereby God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to make us God’s own children (verses 6-7).
Paul sees the entire order of nature, from creation up to the coming of Christ, as a preparation. In the fullness of time, when the preparation was complete, then the real thing happened. God sent His Son.
In the incarnation, God gives humanity another chance. We can, therefore, say that God sent His Son to become human like us so that we could become God’s children like he is.
In Second part, God’s first attempt to make us His children through creation failed. God would not want the new creation to be a failure also. To ensure that this does not happen, God sends “the Spirit of His Son” into our hearts to teach us and empower us to be and feel and live as God’s children. This indwelling Spirit helps us to know God as our loving Father and address God with familiarity “Abba! Daddy!” (Galatians 4:6-7). This Spirit helps us to know ourselves as God’s beloved children, not as fearful slaves who have to do God’s will under fear of punishment.
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, all of us, beloved children of the same loving Father.
Yes dear brothers and sisters, Resolve to count every day – and to make every day count. Because “Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.” – As you heard from the book of Numbers 6:22-27"May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you; May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace". Then, the New Year 2009 will truly be a Happy New Year.
Happy New Year 2009
Happy New Year 2009 my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The oldest holiday, or holy day, we know in the history of the human race is New Year’s. the ancient Romans celebrated New Year’s by exchanging coins which had the face of the god Janus on them. Janus is where we get the word “January.” The one special thing about the god Janus is he is two-faced. He has a face looking to the past and a face looking to the future. That is why the god Janus became the symbol of New Year’s where, just as we are today, we look at the past and give thanks for that. We look to the future and gather our hopes for that.
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.
Yesterday at midnight, the whole place of Times Squire went crazy. The confetti, the balloons, the blizzard of paper, the hundreds of thousands of screaming people on the road – shivering and celebrating and having the time of their lives. There is nothing quite like it. it is almost a ghost town with all the mess.
However, today Times Square is a very different place. The crews had worked through the night and everything is normal. Almost as if, nothing had happened Yesterday night. That is how we try to see our life at New Year’s – almost as if nothing had happened before. We are starting over. let’s begin again.
There is a song by Natasha Bedingfield that captures that kind of spirit. The song is called “Unwritten.” In part, it says:
“Drench yourself in words unspoken.Live your life with arms wide open.Today is where your book beginsThe rest is still unwritten.”
Today is where our book begins. The rest is still unwritten. But this January first, I would challenge you to make a different kind of resolution. Resolve to learn something from the woman we honor today. Resolve to welcome every blank page, every new start, with trust that God will see you through it – and then reflect on it in your heart. Just like Mary did. Today we celebrate Mary the Mother of God – Mary the mother of our salvation. Mary, the one who gave birth to a new beginning. 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.
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.
There are two parts in today’s second reading, taken from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians; the first part dwells on the incarnation, the mystery of the Son of God becoming human (Galatians 4:4-5). The second part dwells on sanctification, that mystery whereby God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to make us God’s own children (verses 6-7).
Paul sees the entire order of nature, from creation up to the coming of Christ, as a preparation. In the fullness of time, when the preparation was complete, then the real thing happened. God sent His Son.
In the incarnation, God gives humanity another chance. We can, therefore, say that God sent His Son to become human like us so that we could become God’s children like he is.
In Second part, God’s first attempt to make us His children through creation failed. God would not want the new creation to be a failure also. To ensure that this does not happen, God sends “the Spirit of His Son” into our hearts to teach us and empower us to be and feel and live as God’s children. This indwelling Spirit helps us to know God as our loving Father and address God with familiarity “Abba! Daddy!” (Galatians 4:6-7). This Spirit helps us to know ourselves as God’s beloved children, not as fearful slaves who have to do God’s will under fear of punishment.
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, all of us, beloved children of the same loving Father.
Yes dear brothers and sisters, Resolve to count every day – and to make every day count. Because “Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.” – As you heard from the book of Numbers 6:22-27"May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you; May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace". Then, the New Year 2009 will truly be a Happy New Year.
Happy New Year 2009
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