A blessed beginning of a new calendar year 2023 to all.

Today our Roman Catholic Church calendar celebrates the solemnity of Mary, the mother of God. It’s a time to reflect as we begin the year.  Also, a day of prayer for peace.

As we begin this year, let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary, the mother of God, to teach us to be like her, in becoming aware of God’s presence in our lives so that like her, we may be willing to say YES to whatever God has planned for us this year 2023.

The first reading for this Sunday was taken from the passage of the sixth chapter of Numbers. It is an appropriate blessing for us as we begin the year, to have the blessing from the Lord with this verse: “The LORD bless you and keep you.”  Indeed, God has truly blessed us, for He keeps us always in His hands and never forgets and abandons us. He looks upon us with kindness and gives us Peace.  God always looks upon us and gives us His Peace. Our challenge is that, we may be a People of Shalom – PEACE. People who desire PEACE for one another and within ourselves. The psalm continues this prayer of blessing God’s presence in our lives. As we become aware of God’s presence in our lives, we should praise God in every moment so that others may come to know His presence.  St. Paul in the second reading from Galatians, tells us that “God has sent the Son, born of a woman, to save us and make us the children of God.” Thanks to our Blessed Mother, we are now adopted children of God and this entails that we need to live and act as children of God. Children of light and not of darkness. For me, to be a child of God is to enter into a new relationship with Him. This is our dream and our hope in our previous Delegation assembly, to build and create a new relationship where we can have Jesus in our midst, that will help us to “walk together, centering our lives on mission and weaving communion.”

The Gospel gives us the account of the shepherds approaching the newborn Baby Jesus. Their findings astound everyone who hears about them and the Gospel goes on to say that Mary treasures all of these things in her heart.  This mean, we need to follow the way of our Blessed Mother in doing the will of God. Our Blessed Mother Mary deserves praise for her contribution to the salvation process. She is exemplary, our example, the chosen one, who gave birth to Jesus, who is both true GOD and true Man. She was willing to consider and open to God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Showing us the example, to do the same.

Let us always seek the maternal accompaniment of our Blessed Mother Mary, to help us in our pilgrim journey so that we may live seeking and doing what God’s really wants for us. And seeking and doing God’s will can lead us to be men and women of PEACE. For it is in doing what is pleasing to God like our Blessed Mother Mary can lead and bring us to Peace. Amen.