New Years Day
Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
January 1, 2012
Reading 1: Numbers 6:22-27
The Lord said to Moses:
"Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The Lord bless you and keep you!
The Lord let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The Lord look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them."
Reading 2: Galatians 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
So you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
I had some difficulty focussing on the Sunday readings this week after the intensity of our Christmas celebrations. (Continuing problems in connecting to the Net are distracting too.)
Adding to the effect of spent feelings is the plethora of themes piled
one upon another for New Year’s Day. Thomas O'Loughlin at
catholicireland.net has some interesting things to say about this. Why,
he asks, do we not celebrate New Year in church when we are so
enthusiastic about it in towns and cities all around the world? Then,
taking account of the various themes that may be the focus of a liturgy
on this day within the parameters set by the Lectionary, he observes:
"Alas, more and more places are thereby left without a Mass-text today that links with most
people's actual celebrations. This absence indicates a cultural and ritual weakness in the
present calendar; and frequently causes a dissonance in celebrations.
There is a strong case to approach today by ignoring this day as a
Marian feast and as the octave-day of Christmas, and focus on it as New
Year's Day..."
More at http://www.catholicireland.net/liturgysacraments/sunday-homily-resources-year-b
While I concur with O'Loughlin's observations, I would like to point out another elephant in the room, even more significant. It is the little matter of circumcision. If we pass over the tricky questions about the origin of this strange practice and its social and medical significance, we can focus on its meaning as the key expression of the covenant of Abraham. By accepting his circumcision an Israelite identified himself among the children of Abraham, the heirs to the promises of God’s covenant.
The Lord promised to Abraham that he would bless all the peoples of the earth. It is almost as if the Creator had come to regret allowing life to evolve to the sentient level in such a violent place, and even more regret allowing life to reach self-awareness opening into spiritual self-consciousness. Life at this level is so much more painful than it is one step down. On this level we can look back with regret, look forward with fear, look around with envy, look down with pride that we are not like those others, look up with ambition to be master of all, look inside with shame and guilt. We can hope, but we are prone to despair, and in desperation we do things that ought not be done, from waging merciless war to cheating and murder and speaking words that hurt the ones we love the most.
In his old age Abraham knew all this, and to him God promised blessings that would not be revoked.
In the end it will all be good.
We need to keep this in mind because the whole of Jewish, Christian and
Moslem faith hinges on this promise. When Jesus was circumcised he was
ritually incorporated into the family of Abraham through whom all
humankind will be blessed. When I accepted my baptism I became a member
of the body of Christ which is the active agent, the ‘sacrament’ of
these blessings.
This is our HOPE. This is what we should be celebrating in our church assemblies at the start of another cycle of our little planet around our little sun. We read of the probabilities that among the billions of galaxies there must be perhaps millions of planets on which life has evolved and even developed much further than it has here. But I also like to imagine the alternative: What if there isn’t another? What if we are the only one!
Our experience is enormously significant. We wade through this swamp, waste deep in filthy slime, lost in a fog of confusion, our progress guided only by a glimmer of light in the future, and we hope!
Happy and Prosperous New Year. My wish is grounded solidly in this ancient myth that the Lord God spoke to Abraham and promised to bless all the peoples of the earth. In time Jesus renovated the tired old legalistic way of living the covenant, insisting on personal integrity, a pure heart in every one of us.
The Letter to the Hebrews (8:6-13) declares that the prophecy of Jeremiah accurately describes the new covenant (which is not new, but a renovated expression of the one, everlasting covenant God made with Abraham):
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant...
I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
For anyone who finds the mythical stories a bit tenuous there is still
the option: to see the coming year and all our experience of this
evolving universe in a positive light, OR to live without hope that
things will ever get better. It is a choice, but when I wish you a Happy
New Year I am hoping you will take the brighter option.
Tony Lawless
I found a useful summary of the Abraham covenant at: http://www.gotquestions.org/Abrahamic-covenant.html
