My friends, with each new year, we are blessed with a fresh opportunity to look at our lives, being as honest as we can, admitting what has worked, what has not, and then deciding what we may want to change, by way of course correction, toward becoming our best selves –someone who will make our own personal life better as well as the lives of all that we touch in 2023.

   In my younger years, I called these proposed changes, as you probably did too, “New Year’s resolutions,” and in those years, I often times, let them go by the wayside before January was over. 

   At this point in my life, the changes that I am talking about are smaller, more doable ones, perhaps.  They are about “focus”—trying to be present to the moment –where I am and who I am with.  They are about respecting others and their opinions—working on being more kind, having more mercy in regard to others and their feelings, being conscious of truth and truth-telling, and being aware of the consequences when I am not. 

   I think most of us have been in the situation of “the elephant in the living room,” the topic we are all aware of, but no one wants to bring up for fear of hurting others, friends, and family, yet it is a constant, unwelcome guest.  Maybe 2023 might be the year that we can address this issue with the idea of bringing in more “light” as Michelle Obama speaks of in her new memoir, The Light We Carry.

   The readings for this first Sunday in the New Year, 2023 are encouraging in this regard.  We are told in both of the first two readings from Numbers and Galatians that we are “children of [our loving] God,” who wants an intimate relationship with us. 

   Paul instructs us to call God, “Abba,” meaning, “Loving Parent.”  This loving God is understanding and merciful toward our human condition, the psalmist says.  This God is all about “blessing” us, giving us a second chance, to become all that each of us was meant to be— “a light in our world.” 

   Often times, we are like Mary, Jesus’ mother, and ours, by extension, if we choose.  She calls us “to treasure all things and reflect on them, in our hearts.”  In our busy lives, we can sometimes get, “too busy” and miss opportunities to be that unique “light” that only we can be in any situation, the light that our brother Jesus asks us to be.

   The older I get, the more I realize that life is short, and thus, so precious.  I am compelled to “speak the truth,” as kindly, but firmly, as I can, especially to “considered,” powers-that-be.  It is the very least that can be expected of “God’s children,” of followers of our brother, Jesus.  Will this always be easy?  No, it will not! –but it is still the right thing to do! 

   Today’s feast is of Mary, Jesus’ mother.  She can be our mother too, or our sister, whichever relationship we might choose.  She has much to teach us about resiliency, and patience in dealing with what life brings.  Her “yes” in faith to a life which she had no actual idea about, going in, and all that it would bring, mirrors our lives too.  The Scriptures tell us that, “she treasured all… [that she didn’t understand] and reflected on [these things] in her heart.” 

   If we were to resolve in the New Year, to “reflect” in our hearts, all that is going on around us, at least, some of the time, this would be a great step toward becoming our best selves—toward “shining” our own, particular light. 

   As I said above, we might also consider our relationship with Mary, as a sister—a good, big sister who has had many wonderful, life experiences to share with us, if we are truly willing to delve into her life.  We can then take what we have learned from her and apply it to our own lives, pondering perhaps the wisdom of the elders among us, while they are still here. 

   Unfortunately, our knowledge of this strong woman of faith, may have been watered down over the years, by Church fathers who apparently have no need for, nor desire, for women who are strong, and who have been gifted by our God, with ideas and abilities to make our Church better, stronger, and something that the next generation truly wants to be part of! I believe Roy Bourgeois said this best, “Who are we, as men, to say that our call from God is authentic, but God’s call to women is not?” (Roy was a member of Maryknoll and served as a priest for 40 years until he was expelled for participating in a woman’s ordination). 

   Thus my friends, we have a new year upon us, a bright and shining opportunity to see and hear and ponder life as it comes to us—always keeping the examples of Mary and her son Jesus in the foreground so as to be the best we can be, for ourselves, and for others.  Amen? Amen!

   My friends, in the nearly 15 years of my priestly ministry, I have come each year to the Christmas Season wanting to share a story that uplifts and makes very plain the true meaning of this miraculous season—the great action of our God for each of us.  Only twice have I come across stories that are spot-on in depicting what Emmanuel, “God- with-us” really means. 

   I’ve shared both stories several times over the years, because a really, good story can be heard and appreciated more than once! Both stories that I am referring to are about men who learned God’s true intention in the Incarnation through the experience of their own lives. 

   One man had the job of shining shoes on a street corner of his hometown and always wished for more of this world’s material goods.  Through what we might call, “a Christmas miracle,” he had the opportunity to obtain several wishes granted him to experience not only material riches, but power and control over others—over everything really, or so he thought. 

   Not a believer in any higher power, nor a praying man, he discovered one day, as he was seemingly “ruling over everything,” that many of his subjects were praying “to God,” and not wanting anyone to be higher than himself, he made his final wish and that was to be like God if God were to appear on earth, and “miraculously” found himself back at his shoe-shine-stand. Not in power, but in lowliness the Scriptures say. 

   The other story is similar in that an unbelieving man who could never quite get his “head around” the Christmas story—that of God coming to earth, “to be one-with-us,” discovered one night, as he tried to save a flock of geese who got lost in a storm, and get them to shelter, the true meaning of the Incarnation. It seems that the geese were afraid of the man trying to shoo them into the safety of his barn, and only when he disguised himself and took on the “look” of the geese, walking as they did, flapping his made-up wings, would the geese begin to follow him to safety. 

   Too many times friends, over the span of our lives, well-meaning tellers of the Christmas story have tried to explain it from their heads—theologically, instead of from the heart, where the message originated in the first place, and have caused the message, the story, to stop there.  An angry God, needing to be appeased, sent his own son to die for the failings of humankind.  Such a story I think leads us all to “beat our breasts,” feeling guilty and not really very joyful. 

   Yet the Scriptures throughout Advent and Christmas time speak of joy—the joy of a young woman, Mary, who said her “yes” in faith to the God of Love in her heart.  The joy, no doubt, of her partner, Joseph when he learned that he too was called to be part of the Incarnation.  The joy of an older woman, Elizabeth, who recognized the presence of God within her younger relative and proclaimed that joy, “How [is it] that this should happen to me…that the mother of my [God] should come to me?” 

   And yes, there are those Scripture passages, like the reading from Titus that Elliot did for us tonight so wonderfully, that still cling to the idea of Jesus’ coming being all about “salvation…to redeem us.”  It is important when we hear such readings to go that step deeper that I always encourage for us to get to Jesus’ true message.  The “salvation” that has always been offered is NOT about “redeeming us,” but “showing us the way,” to be our best selves.  “A light,” Scriptures say, “shining in [our] darkness.”

   Jesus was incarnated among us, looking, and acting like us, just as in the story of the geese, so that we could more easily, and clearly, hear and trust and believe how much God loves us. 

   Even though Church fathers try to lift up Jesus’ “kingliness,” his “sacrificing” for us, which cuts into the joy of this blessed season; we would do well to listen to the words of the “mothers” in this season instead, who exult in the “fruit” of their wombs and their ability to share this simple, yet so precious gift of life with our world.  And incidentally, this is the work of Christmas—sharing the Good News that God is, truly, “with us.” 

   That our God would love us so much to become poor, simple, and one-with-us, in order that we could have a clear example of how best to live our one, amazing life, is cause for the greatest joy, really, in my mind.  The power and control that the shoe-shine man sought in his life, only to find out in the end, were not what would make him happy, no doubt caused a “sea-change” in him if he was able to wrap his heart, rather than his head around the concept. 

   The Christmas story, friends, if we really delve into it, asks us too, like the shoe-shine man, to consider a God, not of power and control over us, but one who loves us in an over-the-top way, simply because, WE ARE, and for no other reason.  Choosing to become one-with-us in our simple, poor, and imperfect humanity so that we would not miss this point—of God’s profound love, or ever be afraid of this life force within us, is a cause for great joy! 

   The joy that we instinctively feel at this time of year, as we reach out to others, within our families and among our friends, is the true mark of “God-with-us,” whether we be Christians or of any other religious group.  Our God, who is love, is always, “chasing after us,” as one Scripture translation tells us, wanting to be part of our lives, in all the rejoicing and sorrowing times, and asks us to reach out in the same way in order that people could truly see the face of our loving God and in that way, know that they are loved and cared for too.  The truth of it is friends, most of us only know that we have a God of love, if they experience that love through us.  This is the work of Christmas and should continue all throughout the year.  May we each know God’s wonderful love now and always—and that is our challenge, to make sure that anyone and everyone we encounter knows that they are loved—through us! Amen?  Amen!