Introduction:
As the mother Church celebrates today the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God on New Year’s Day, I would like to take the opportunity to wish all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2021. I would also like to remind you to be grateful to God for all his blessings; divine providence and protection from sin, accidents, natural calamities, and sicknesses especially from Covid-19. I pray that the Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary may enhance your life during the New Year with Divine intimacy, protection and wholeness of life. Today’s Feast of Mary, the Mother of God is a very fitting way to start the New Year, calling us to rely on the powerful intercession of our Heavenly Mother.
LESSONS FROM THE SCRIPTURE
Today’s first reading from the book of Numbers assures us the divine blessing for the New Year. The reading reveals to us that Yahweh promises his blessings on those who are faithful and devoted to him like MARY our mother.
The Responsorial Psalm of today (Ps 67) asks God to be gracious to us and asks God to bless us. Like the Psalmist of today, we need to ask God his blessings and rely on the graces of God in this New Year 2021.
In the second reading of today, St. Paul reminds the Galatians and us that God’s Son has pitched his tent among us and has become one of us through Mary, and that it is through Jesus that we have become the children of God and Mother Mary has become the Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church. We are no more slave but children of God.
Today’s Gospel describes how the shepherds spread to all their neighbours the Good News about the birth of Jesus which the angel had announced to them, and how Mary treasured “all these things” in her heart (Lk 2:19). The Gospel also tells us that on the day of his circumcision, the Child was given the name Jesus that had been chosen by God Himself.
Today we honor and have devotion to Mary mainly because God honored her by choosing her to become the mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, when He took on human flesh and became man, as said in the Bible. The angel said to Mary: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus; He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…” (Lk 1:32-32). After the angel had appeared to her and told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth. At Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:42-43). Hence, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), and in AD 451, the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the Divine Motherhood of Mary as a dogma, an official doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church.
MESSAGES FOR OUR DAILY LIVING
1. Let us honour our Lady by…
a. By praying the Rosary daily with love and devotion
b. By keeping all her big feasts in a special way seeking through them the renewal of our spiritual life
c. By fostering liturgical cult of our lady
d. By venerating her image as recommended by the teaching authority of the church
e. By imbibing her profound reverence in the adoration and deep recollection in the contemplation of God
f. By radiating her humility, kindness and thoughtfulness towards our brothers and sisters
g. By inspiring in our students, young people, our children full confidence in our lady
h. By flying to her for help when the work for souls is hard.
2) Let us make the New Year meaningful by making some meaningful resolutions and having every day
a) Something to dream,
b) Something good to do,
c) Someone to love, the first-person being Jesus.
3) Let us sanctify every day of the New Year:
a) By offering every morning, all the activities of the day for God’s glory, thus transforming them into prayers,
b) By asking for the anointing and strengthening of the Holy Spirit to do good for others and to avoid evil,
c) By remaining faithful to our family prayers, the rosary and Bible reading at night,
d) By asking God’s pardon and forgiveness for our sins committed during the day and
e) By seeking God’s special protection during our sleep.
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