Mary Mother of God - New Year Blessing

We have an appetite for new things. We constantly ask one another ‘’What’s new?’The media makes big money keeping us update on the latest happenings, good or bad. We read catalogues or search the internet to find out what new things are out there. Some new things are worth celebrating: a new cure for cancer, a new car, a new outfit. Some new things we approach with guarded optimism: a new acquaintance, a new teacher, a new president; and some things are cause for no celebration at all: a new pain somewhere, a new bill we were not expecting.

Most everyone approaches the new year as a something worth celebrating. Perhaps it’s as good an excuse for a party as anything else. Perhaps we know our New Year’s resolutions are going to make us into that kind of person we’ve always wanted to be. Or perhaps we’re just glad we made it this far. There are any numbers of reasons people celebrate. At the same time, however, if we are realistic, we know each New Year could bring new challenges, new dangers, new sadness. These are not things we want to think about and certainly not things to celebrate. They are things to pray about, and that’s one good reason to begin the year right here, right where we are now: asking God’s blessing for whatever is ahead.

Our first reading today is one that we are all familiar with as it is often used as our final blessing at Mass. It is a blessing by which Aaron the high priest, the brother of Moses, blessed God’s people as they prepared for their journey to the Promised Land. They had been in the desert of Sinai now for a year. God had made a covenant with them and now they have detailed instructions on how to proceed on to the land of Israel, the Promised Land. Their expectations were high as they started out. Unfortunately, the journey did not go well. They had the assurance of a close relationship with God, but they easily became dissatisfied with the hardships of their journey. They gave in to fear of what was ahead and complained they would rather be back in Egypt as slaves. The journey they were on required constant trust in God and they found that hard to do. Sometimes, God is all we have to rely on.

The difficult moments of our lives call for trust as well. God is taking us on a journey into a New Year, into a new chapter in our lives. If we proceed with trust, the journey will go more smoothly. We do have God’s blessing on us. God’s blessing is not something we can see. The shepherd saw angels and the baby Jesus. The people of Israel saw miracles after Jesus had grown up. The Apostles saw Jesus after he had risen. We have only a word to depend on, the word of Jesus: ‘’l will be with you always.’’ And we have the special sign of his presence in the Eucharist guaranteed by his word: ‘’This is my body.’’ ‘’This is my blood.’’

When the shepherds saw Jesus, he probably looked pretty much like most any other little baby. They had only the word of the angels to believe he was special. Our host at Mass doesn’t look like anything exceptional either, but Jesus’ word tells us it is. It is our Lord and our God who nourishes us as we make our journey through life. This is our guarantee that we have God’s blessing on us as we travel on. Having this assurance, we who believe can celebrate as we begin a new year. May it be truly blessed for all of us. Amen