Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Year C (January 1, 1998)

Theme: A New Year Resolution in the Footsteps of Mary

1st Numbers 6:22-27

2nd Galatians 6:22-27

Gospel Luke 2:16-21

Today is new year's day, January 1, 1998. An old year has ended, a new year has begun. January comes from the name of 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 in review at the year that has just ended and to look forward in preview of the new year ahead of us. How did I spend this one year of my life that has just passed? Did I use it to advance my goals and objectives in life? Did I use it to enhance the purpose of my existence? Could I have done better last year in the way I invested my time between the demands of work, the demands of my family, the demands of friends and society, and the demands of my spiritual life? What things did I achieve last year and what did I fail to achieve? How can I consolidate my achievements of last year while curtailing the failures and losses in this new year? Through such soul searching questions we find that a review of the past year naturally leads to setting goals and resolutions for the new year. There are people who tell you that there is no point making new year resolutions. Don't mind them. We must set goals and make resolutions as a necessary conclusion to our review of the past year. And we do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.

If you look at the dailies today you will see a sampling of people's new year resolutions. But most of what you see there are not resolutions at all but only wishes. What is the difference between a resolution and a wish? A wish identifies a goal I want to reach, a resolution specifies the steps I will take to reach it. A wish says this is where I want to be, a resolution says this is the road I will take, this is what I will do to get there. The wishful person says "I want to pass my exams this year" and the resolute person says "I will devote an extra hour to my studies everyday in order to pass my exams." The wishful person says "I will have more peace and love in my family this year" and the resolute person says "I will spend more time with my family at table instead of rushing off to the TV, so that we get to know and understand ourselves better." The wishful person says "I will live a life of union with God this year" and the resolute person says "I will set aside this time everyday to pray and hear God's word." The difference between wishing and resolving is, are we prepared to do what is required to make our dreams come true, are we prepared to pay the price?

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 at work in her life. 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.

The two examples above of Mary pondering the word of God, namely, after the visit of the shepherds and after the finding in the temple, show that Mary found the word of God both in divine revelation (the angels' words to the shepherds) and in her own experiences (her encounter with Jesus in the temple). Similarly God speaks to us today through divine revelation (the Bible, the teachings of the Church, the preaching at Mass, etc) as well as through our personal experiences, if only we made time to reflect on them as Mary did. Whatever situation you find yourself in -- a hardship, disappointment, a decision to make -- God has a solution, an answer that is right for you. 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.

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