MARY AND THE NEW YEAR

On January 1^st of each year, the Church keeps the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. The principal reason for marking the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God on January 1 is that the beginning of the New Year coincides with the Octave Day of Christmas, and Christmas was made possible through Mary. Our Salvation, therefore is directly linked with Mary. The name “Jesus” means “Yahweh saves” or simply “Saviour”. The Son of Mary had to be called “Jesus”, for He and He alone perfectly fulfills the intrinsic meaning of the name. Recall that Jesus’ name was assigned by eternal decree since as St.Matthew’s Gospel reveals, “it is he who will save his people from their sins”

The first day of January is also Mary’s special day because Bethlehem constituted a new start for the world and again, our Lady made this possible. In the Epistle to the Romans, St.Paul tells us that Jesus is the new Adam; through Him, the world was recreated, made new again. Since freshness of life is so apposite a thought to the start of the New Year, the Church invites us to begin in the company of the Virgin Mother of Nazareth.

So can our New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions, for example, to live our faith better: by going to confession monthly or by trying to pray better each day. Or we could resolve to do something specifically Marian, such as a Marian pilgrimage this year (or make such a pilgrimage each year, for the rest of our lives); or (if we are not already committed), say the Rosary daily the rest of our lives.

“Specifically Marian” always means, “oriented to Christ”. Mary always points to Jesus, as she did at Cana of Galilee, when she told the waiters: “Do whatever he [Jesus] tells you” (Jn 2:5)

Devotion to Mary can only increase our faith. Mary is the model of faith par excellence; in fact, she is the person of faith, always believing, never doubting, yet at the same time not fully understanding. Faith is a universal requirement; no human creature, not even Mary, has ever been excused from it. Just as we must pilgrimage in the grey, in this world of sixes and sevens and obstacles and disappointments, so Mary also had to do. But she preceded us; as Mother of the Church, she walked paths that we have no alternative but to walk. And she walked, despite apparent contradictions we shall never experience: the contradiction of Calvary, where she stood beneath the Cross-, for example.

Solid devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus can only result in a happy and meaningful year for us, since it can only help unite us more closely to Mary’s Son, Jesus our Lord. We begin the New Year with this thought and prayer.

There is a final point pondering. Jesus as chose to enter our world through Mary, so He wills to grace us through her. An ancient title of our Lady is “Mediatrix.’’ Vatican Council II reaffirmed this title. It means that anyone who yearns for God-Life but ignores the Mother of the Lord, Mary, yearns in vain.

Prepared by:

Frt BikolwaMungu A, Stephen 

(Archdiocese of Mwanza)