"Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
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!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
So you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.
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.
Today’s Feast of "Mary, the Mother of God" is a very appropriate way to begin a new year. This celebration reminds us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is also our Heavenly Mother. Hence, our ideal motto for the New Year 2012 should be “Through Mary to Jesus!" The church observes this day also as the World Day of Peace and invites us specially to pray for peace in the world. The church celebrates this day as the world day of peace and invites us specially to pray for peace in the world. In the first reading from the book of Numbers God gives Moses and Aaron the formula of Divine blessing they should use while blessing the Israelites. In the second reading Paul reminds Galatians that God’s Son has become one of us through Mary and it was through him that they have become the children of God. Today’s gospel describes how the Shepherds spread to all their neighbors the good news surrounding the birth of Jesus revealed to them by the angel and how Mary treasures them all in her heart. The Gospel also tells us that on the day of circumcision the Child was given the name Jesus that was chosen by God himself.
Mary’s real name was Miriam. She spoke Aramaic with a Galilean accent. Like the other women of her time, she was probably an illiterate, hard-working and healthy village girl, who labored in the field and in the kitchen. She knew her Hebrew prayers and understood some words and expressions in Greek and Latin, as these were used in Galilee by the Roman soldiers and the Greek merchants and pilgrims. She might have been fair-skinned, dark haired and dark eyed. At the time of annunciation she was probably thirteen or fourteen. Joseph might have been a young man or a widower with children. In villages like Nazareth, four or five related families lived in adjacent houses around an inner courtyard. Mary gave birth to Jesus, probably in B.C. 6 and she was below fifty and a widow when her son Jesus was crucified. After remaining in Nazareth for a few years, sharing the bitter experiences of the early Christian community, she might have moved to Ephesus along with John and died there. Jesus’ brothers and sisters mentioned in the gospel were either children of Mary’s sisters or the children of Joseph’s brothers or even children of Joseph by an earlier marriage. Mary can easily identify herself with the poor and the oppressed and their hardships and aspirations, as she was part of that peasant community which was forced to pay taxes to the Romans, to Herod the king and to the Temple (tithes).The Holy Family belonged to the working class.
Let us strive to be pure and holy like our heavenly Mother. All mothers want their children to inherit or acquire their good qualities. Our heavenly Mother is no exception. She succeeded in training the Child Jesus, so that He grew in holiness and in “favor before God and man.” Hence, our best way of celebrating this feast and honoring our heavenly Mother would be to promise her that we will practice her virtues of faith, obedience, purity and humble service. In this way, we will be trying to become the saintly sons and daughters of our heavenly Mother, the holy Mother of God. Like Mary let us learn to say " Yes " to God's will at all times in our life.
The following story about New Year resolutions makes interesting reading .........
Deciding to jump: A boy asked his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hangs over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"
The dad replied, "Two."
"No," the son replied. “Here is the question again: There are three frogs and one decided to jump, how many are left?"
The dad said, "Oh, I get the point! If one decided to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."
The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."
Does that sound like our last year’s resolutions? Great inspiration and great resolutions, but oftentimes we only decide, and months later we are still on the same limb of do-nothing.
Let us make meaningful resolutions that are easy to live-by with God's abundant grace.Whatever the situation in which we find ourselves - be it a hardship, or a bitter disappointment, or a difficult decision to make - God has a perfect solution, an answer that is right for us. We tell God about it in prayer but we also listen to what God has to tell us about it. Prayer is a conversation with God but sometimes all we do is pick up the phone, read out the list of our problems to God and drop the phone without listening to hear what God has to say to us. 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. May be, we can resolve to read the Bible systematically everyday in short spells, meditate for a moment on that particular God's Word for us and seek his grace and wisdom to obey His Word sincerely.
Once again wish you a happy New Year !
God Bless.
