“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  As the world celebrates the beginning of a new year with fireworks, parties and parades, we come to celebrate New Year’s Day by reflecting on the most important new beginning in all of history – the birth of Jesus.  By having his Son born of a woman, God has invited us to participate in the mystery of our salvation.

 

This first solemnity of the New Year is one that celebrates Mary, and her role as the Mother of God.  God, who is infinite, beyond our comprehension, loves us perfectly.  He demonstrated his infinite love for us down through the ages and, at the fullness of time, he demonstrated his love by becoming one like us.  And he became one of us in the same way every other human being comes into being.  As we hear in today’s second reading, “God sent his Son, born of a woman.”  And in doing so, he made us participants in the work of our salvation.

 

The core of this feast is that Mary has given birth to the Savior who is not just the long-awaited Messiah of Israel, an anointed king like Saul, David or Solomon, but the Son of the living God.  This feast, then, is about the mystery of the Incarnation – God’s presence among us as a newborn child, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin.  Here we come face to face with God’s unique presence among us and the faithful fulfillment of his promises to ancient Israel.

 

Remember how the Jewish leaders sent emissaries to John the Baptist to inquire if he was the Christ – of course, you realize that “Christ” means “Messiah” or “the anointed one.”  John’s response was a firm and resounding “No!”  But there was, he told them, one among them whom they did not recognize, who came after him but ranked before him.  He was, of course, speaking about Jesus.  So, who is this Christ child and what difference does he make in our lives?

 

Jesus, who would be anointed by the Holy Spirit as he was baptized by John, is the one who came to bring us back to union with our infinite, all-loving God. And, he is to do this as one like us and with our cooperation. 

  

Mary, his mother, would be the perfect instrument for his coming.  And, in this role, Mary was not simply a passive instrument in God’s hands.  Rather, in her acceptance of and firm “yes” to God’s plan, Mary discovered and accepted new dimensions to her motherhood and discipleship.  Indeed, as her life unfolded she constantly presented to the world its Savior, just as in our Gospel passage today we hear that she presents the newborn Christ to the shepherds.  She invites us to true worship before her Son, and to treasure and immerse ourselves in his divine mystery.

 

The Gospel of Luke recalls other important details of the story.  The very first people to receive news of God’s birth in the world were shepherds, the poorest of the poor and social outcasts at the time of Jesus.  A heavenly chorus of angels directs them to the stable, where they see and believe that this poor couple and their newborn infant are, in fact, signs that God has fulfilled his promise to save us by entering the human story in person.  In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear about the magi – wise men who come from afar seeking the newborn king.

 

All of this gives us a lovely Christmas card picture.  But, the Gospels accounts hold immense implications for us as we gather around the altar to mark the beginning of another year. If we need New Year’s resolutions to point the path into 2020, they are all here.

 

We are no longer alive just for this world or for short, individual lives of toil and pleasure before we die.  We have a divine purpose and an eternal destiny.

 

Like Mary, we are invited to reflect on God’ infinite mercy toward us and, in thanksgiving, we are called to share his love and mercy with everyone we rub shoulders with, day in and day out.  Like the shepherds, we are to proclaim the great things God has done in our midst.  And, like the magi, we are to continuously seek out our true king and his eternal kingdom.

 

To share in the mystery of Jesus, to grow toward maturity as followers of Christ, we need only to say “yes” to God, listen to the Word, ponder it in prayer and practice it in service.  Everything else will flow from this beginning.  The whole Christian life is right here.  Let us, like Mary, keep all these things in our hearts, and reflect on them throughout the coming year; it will then be a year of true grace and the Lord will bless and keep us.