When praying and thinking about what I might preach on this Solemnity that marks the beginning of the New Year, the thought crossed my mind to simply say, “Happy New Year! As Saint Teresa of Kolkata once said to a fellow Christian who questioned her devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘No Mary, no Jesus.’ This can also be stated Know Mary (k-n-o-w), know Jesus. Pray the Rosary!” One friend responded to this with “Good enough!” Well, I am not going to let you off the hook that easily.
Because Jesus is the Prince of Peace, Mary is the Queen of Peace. In addition to being the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, since Pope Saint Paul VI celebrated the first one fifty-four years ago in 1967, New Year’s Day has also been, at least for Catholics, the World Day of Peace.
I am always struck by the opening verses of the Beatles song “Let It Be” -
When I find myself in times of troubleAs the opening words of the well-known hymn has it: “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Of necessity, peace starts as an interior movement, one that is born in stillness and silence. Peace of mind is the fruit of contemplating the mystery of God-made-man-for us, as the heart of the Mother of God reflecting on the event of Incarnation of God’s Only Begotten Son shows us in today’s Gospel.2 As Saint Paul notes in our reading from his Letter to the Galatians, it is because Jesus is Son of God and Son of Mary that he is our brother, this is what enables us to call God, “Abba, Father.”3
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be1
This cosmic event was no doubt awe-inspiring, even for her through whom God became man. It was by the Virgin Mary that Jesus was made consubstantial with us. It was on the cross that Jesus gave Mary as a mother to all who follow him, when he said to the beloved disciple: “Behold your mother.”4
The most accessible means we have at our disposal for contemplating the mystery of God-made-man-for-us is the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As you pray it, you contemplate the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries. I urge you to pray the Rosary every day, three hundred and sixty-five times between today on New Year’s Day 2022.
Our Lady, Mother of Providence, by Stephen Whatley, 2013
By “Pray the Rosary daily,” I mean one full set of mysteries each day. You can pray the Rosary while sitting quietly or you can pray it while walking, which, I don't mind telling you, is my preferred method. You can pray it while waiting at the dentist’s or doctor’s office, or while having your oil changed. You can even pray it while driving, but only if your vehicle has an automatic transmission.
As the late English Dominican Fr. Vincent McNabb urged in a homily for Rosary Sunday way back in 1936:
The Incarnation is the centre of all our spiritual life. One of the means by which it is made so is the Holy Rosary. There is hardly any way of arriving at some realisation of this great mystery equal to that of saying the Rosary. Nothing will impress it so much on your mind as going apart to dwell in thought, a little space each day, in Bethlehem, on Golgotha, on the Mount of the Ascension5Today I urge you to make praying the Rosary daily a New Year’s Resolution. As you take the time to pray the Rosary each day, bring your prayer intentions before your Mother. Pray for peace, peace in your heart, in your home, in your place of work, in our parish, our diocese, the Church, in our community, state, country, and pray for the peace announced to the shepherds by the angels on the night of our Lord’s birth to prevail throughout the world.
Our Blessed Mother will hear and intercede for you. She will help you, strengthen you, comfort and console you. Sometimes, being the good Mother she is, she will challenge you to follow her Son more closely. She will urge you to have the faith to step out of the safety of the boat.
At the beginning of this New Year, Our Lady says to you what she said to the humble peasant Juan Diego centuries ago: ¿No estoy yo aqui, que soy tu madre? "Am I not here, I who am your mother?"
My friends in Christ, Happy New Year! Know Mary, know Jesus. Pray the Rosary!
1 The Beatles, “Let It Be,” written and sung by Paul McCartney.↩
2 Luke 2:19.↩
3 Galatians 4:6.↩
4 John 19:27.↩
5 Michael Hennessy, “Fr. Vincent McNabb: A Voice of Contradiction,” Seattle Catholic, 29 April 2005.↩
No comments:
Post a Comment