Thursday, December 31, 2020

 Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord

(I John 2:18-21; John 1:1-18)

Was the year so bad after all?  Yes, it was hard.  We have all felt disappointment, uncertainty, and the loss of loved ones.  The Corona-19 Virus has taken opportunities to see people and do things that we were counting on.  It suspended judgment on most everything.  Should we go to Mass or not?  Will there be a graduation or a football season?  People whom we have known all our lives passed on without a funeral.  Yes, we are glad that the year is officially ending and look forward to better times.

Yet before we close 2020, we should thank the Lord for some of its elements.  Nuclear families reunited to eat, play, and pray together.  We expressed gratitude to workers – attendants, deliverers, caregivers – whom we had overlooked before.  We were given time to reflect on our lives.  The world may not care to do this.  But today’s gospel tells us that the world rejected Jesus as well.  We know him to be the source of family, of work, and of the truth about ourselves.

Before we forge into the new year we should make a resolution.  We want a return to normalcy but let it be a new normal.  Let us learn from the blessings of 2020 as difficult as they were to realize.  Let us promise to give more time to our families.  Let us bless everyone who is contributing to a better world (and pray for those who do not care).  And let us follow Jesus, the light that has shown in darkness.

Reflection on Beginning the New Year

We mark time by years, and months, weeks, and days -- not so much by hours, minutes, and seconds -- but perhaps by light and darkness. A new year as a new day gives us the opportunity to make a fresh start. It inspires the sense of hope.

Each of us hopes for different things but certainly there are common denominators, at least for those who carry their crosses behind the Lord. We want to see our work prosper, for others as well as ourselves. We want to see our loved ones grow in wisdom, strength, and beauty as well as in faith and love. We long to see less contention, both in places where war rages and among people who share much background but lack common ideological perspective.

As we launch into the workdays of the New Year, let us resolve that we will make an added effort for peace among those we encounter. And let pray us pray that God may imbue His Spirit of love in the world.