MOTHER OF GOD – Jan 1 (Luke 2: 16-21) Year B 2015 The beginning of the year is usually the time we look to all the blessings God has given us in the past year, and we ask Him to bless the New Year. In 1979 archeologists digging outside Jerusalem stumbled upon a cave filled with jars, oil lamps, and jewelry. These objects, they discovered later had been placed in the cave nearly 600 years before Jesus was born. One piece of jewelry in particular caught their attention. It was a tiny silver scroll no bigger than a child’s little finger. When a Jewish scholar translated the words on the scroll, he could hardly believe his eyes. They were the words of a blessing that God gave to Moses. They were the words of blessing that is still used today in synagogues and churches around the world. They were the words of the beautiful blessing we find in today’s first reading: “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!” How fitting these words are in the light of today’s Gospel. For, Joseph must have used these same words to bless Jesus, as he laid him in the manger crib. And again, he must have blessed the Babe in these words as he held him in his arms just before giving him the name Jesus. On this feast of Mary, the Mother of God – honoring the woman, who was called “blessed” among women – Let’s look at the meaning of the word “blessing” in the Scripture. The Bible talks about blessing in four different ways. 2 First, it talks about God blessing people. Thus God blesses Adam and Eve saying, “Be fruitful and multiply.” The purpose of the blessing is to confer something special upon them – the power to reproduce themselves. Second, the Bible talks about people blessing God. Thus St. Paul says to the Christians of Ephesus, “Blessed be the God who had blessed us.” The purpose of the blessing is to thank and praise God for the undeserved blessings God gives us. The Gospel tells us that when the shepherds came and saw the Child in the manger, “they understood what had been told them concerning this child” (Luke 2:17) and they went away proclaiming the Good News. They had been blessed by their experience and went out to share the blessings with others.- Luke goes on to say that Mary “treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) This is also a response to God’s blessing. In her own quiet way she surely made it apparent to others how much her life had been blessed by God. We may be the kind of people who tell all those around us of the wonders of God, or we may be the more quiet type, who reflect on God’s love for us and then share that love with others. Chances are most of us are a combination of the two. Third, the Bible talks about people blessing people. Thus Isaac blesses his son. The purpose of the blessing is to ask God to confer on his son something special. When we bless one another and our world, we share in the life-giving power of God and the divine responsibility to care for all life. 3 We bless one another within a community of faith. Blessings stretch us to go beyond ourselves. As we invoke God in blessing, we remember that God is in charge of our world. In the midst of the changing years, God is eternal. Even more, we remember that God loves us all. Finally, the Bible talks about people blessing things. Thus Jesus blesses bread. The purpose of the blessing is to make bread holy in a special way for the benefit of his followers. When we gather as a faith community, we give thanks for the blessings that we have received. And we become ever more aware of the blessings we are for one another. A Scottish blessing of the New Year asks: “Bless this day, never granted me before. It is to bless your presence that you have given me this time, O God. Bless my eyes, may they bless all they see. I will bless my neighbor, may my neighbor bless me.” We are encouraged to bless one another, especially in our families and with our loved ones. We may often think of blessing as something reserved for priests, but it belongs to all of us as children of God. Parents might bless their children each night at bedtime. Husbands and wives might bless each other as a morning goodbye before the day’s activities. Friends might learn to greet one another with simple blessing, recognizing the great gift of friendship in our hectic world. On this New Year’s Day, we pray to the Lord of time and eternity: 4 “Remember us, O God, from age to age, be our comforter. You have given us the wonder of time, blessings in days and nights, seasons and years. Bless your children at the turning of the year, and fill the months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ.” In brief, then, When God blesses us, it’s to give us something special. When we bless God, it’s to thank and praise God for some undeserved, special gift. This leads us to two practical conclusions: First, as we close out the old year, we should thank God for blessing us during the past year. Touching on the point of gratitude, Henry Ward Beecher made this comparison. Suppose someone gave you a dish of sand mixed with fine iron filings. You look for the filings with your eyes, but you can’t see them. You feel for them with your fingers, but you can’t feel them. Then you take a tiny magnet and draw it through the sand in the dish. Suddenly the magnet is covered with iron filings. The ungrateful person, says Beecher, is like our fingers feeling for the filings. Such a person finds nothing to be thankful for. The grateful person on the other hand, is like the magnet sweeping through the sand. The person finds hundreds of things to be grateful for. The famous marathon runner, Bill Rogers was an American conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Instead of being assigned to military service, he was sent to work in a home for retarded men. One of those men named Joe, affected Bill’s life profoundly. 5 Rogers says, “Whenever I saw Joe, he seemed to be wearing a big welcome-to-my-world smile… The smallest act of kindness or the smallest object given to him made him brim with gratitude. Joe found reasons to be grateful even in the most trying circumstances.” Joe was like a magnet sweeping through the sand. He found hundreds of things to be thankful for. This brings us to the second practical conclusion. Besides counting our blessings from God during the year, we should consider sharing some of our blessings with others during the coming year. For this is how we bless God for having blessed us. Let’s take a true to life example. On Thanksgiving Day of 1985, 175 syndicated cartoonists banded together to give 90 million American readers the same Thanksgiving Day message. It was this: While the people in America are blessed with plenty, there are others in the world, who have very little. Typical of how the cartoonists chose to communicate this message was the Peanuts cartoon. It showed Linus asking Charlie Brown if he were going to have a big Thanksgiving Day dinner. Charlie says nonchalantly, “I guess so, but I never think much about food.” Snoopy overhears him, looks at his empty dish, and says, “He’d think a lot about food if his dish were as empty as mine.” The message of the Peanuts cartoon is clear: The next worst thing to having too little food is having too much. It makes us insensitive to those who go hungry, - and ungrateful to God, who gives us too much. Let’s close with a prayer: 6 God our Father On this feast of Mary, the Mother of God, Give us an appreciation Of the many gifts you have given us During the past year. Help us bless You in return During this New Year By sharing some of our gifts with others, Who have far, far less then we do. Amen.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 22:31:39 +0000
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