"New Life" - Mary Mother of God Homily

It's an awesome Feast Day to begin a New Year.

It's a day of great hope, real sense of new life.

We turn the calendar.

We look ahead to a better year this year, and we come to Church thinking, how can we be better people and better Catholics, better friends of Jesus, better disciples?

So let's talk about Him who is all about these things about hope and new life.

I sound really corny in the Christmas season.

I don't care.

Every day in the Catholic Church is like Christmas Day.

You get to that Adoration Chapel, you're to know what I'm talking about.

To adore Him like Mary and Joseph and all those at the scene, that's every day in our Church.

And then new.

All things are new in Christ every day.

And there's places He wants to take you personally, spiritually this year.

It takes first step of course.

But I bet you could look back on the past year.

He had you take those steps.

Now it may be new territory, new ground, all together.

And when we start with Mary.

The Church honors her today, first day of the new year, this new life, all the hope of this year.

And the Church says it's the best way for it to happen through her.

Because God designed it so that all that Christ would bring to the world, all the treasures, all the blessings, would come through her.

He could have done it any way He wanted.

And I can only think of a few ways, but He could think of a million ways.

He chose her as the way.

for His son to come into the world.

And the Church has always seen this as significant.

That's the way He's come to us.

That's the way we should go to Him, through Mary.

So this whole approach to a new year, the Church is with us, saying, yes, have hope, especially in Jesus through Mary.

Big things were happening for Mary at the time of her son's birth.

Major stuff, dramatic stuff.

People are amazed.

They're glorifying and praising God.

She's told the name of her son Jesus, the one who saves His people.

Big time stuff that she treasures in her heart, reflecting on them.

Hopefully that's been the reflection for you looking back over this past year, 2024.

Treasures, gifts, graces.

that you do not deserve.

I was thinking about that the other day, all the graces bestowed upon this place, I don't deserve any of them.

We don't deserve any of them.

But we're grateful for all of them.

I don't know if you're big into resolutions, but I would suggest the resolution of giving thanks every day in the New Year, especially in the Eucharist.

This is what happens to us when we give thanks.

When we come to Jesus more through Mary, we become grateful for all we have through her.

As a Church, we look back on the day that it started.

It really was with John.

I love the line in Scripture that says, took Mary into His home.

So there is from the scene of the crucifixion where Jesus says, behold your mother, John.

And John represents the Church.

And from that day, He took Mary into His home, into His heart, into His life, into His routines.

And that means all of us.

And look at the early Church, exploded in spirituality, exploded in faith.

My goodness, they were out there for Jesus.

All the way to death with almost all the apostles.

John was excluded from that to remember, to remind us, to represent us all.

But we can go to those heights.

The things right now that you think, I can't go there.

I can't hear God in prayer.

Give it a chance this year.

Step into the chapel.

Commit.

You will hear God eventually.

You will pray for miracles with confidence.

You will pray with things.

People start coming to you for big time prayer and intercession.

You.

You can go to the next level with Christ.

Yes, you.

Trust me, when He called me to this, I said, not me.

He said, yes, you.

I said, OK.

It took a while, but OK.

It can happen, Everything that we see around us, this is Jesus through Mary.

This was the plan.

All these things we treasure in our heart reflect on them.

If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have all these.

And look around your home today.

Think about your family history, your life.

Not all came about because your mother said yes to it.

That was the perfect plan for your family, for you.

All that through her.

And that's what has us reflected.

That's what has us treasure, like her.

All the beautiful things in our lives, all the gifts from God through our mother, as a Church, through Mary.

So we're grateful today.

We're confident today.

We're hopeful today.

Seeing our history through Mary, that 2025 can come up huge.

personally, spiritually, for our families.

and to know that we have the best way.

True hope, new life in Jesus through Mary.