Rev Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Homily - 2016

I would like to take the opportunity this Christmas season to reflect, however inadequately, on one of the most magnificent message, indeed one of the gems of the Catholic tradition; the tradition of sharing and exchanging gifts on Christmas day. However I would like to go little further and reflect to whom and with whom we should share and celebrate the Christmas meaningfully.

To celebrate the birth of Christ, we take four weeks to prepare. The four weeks of advent is usually marked with four advent candles. The four advent candles are traditionally named as Prophet's Candle, Bethlehem's Candle, Shepherd's Candle and Angel's Candle. If we look back the salvation history many have played vital role to bring forth the Messiah to the world. Among them the Prophets, Bethlehem, Shepherds and Angels too occupied very important places. They had their own role and duty in announcing and accommodating the birth of Jesus and sharing the joy and peace to the world. However all these four were one way or the other neglected people or place. The Prophets were neglected by people, Bethlehem was looked very low, Shepherds were always downtrodden people in the society and the Angels were normally forgotten by humans. But all these four either neglected or forgotten were included by Jesus in the history of his birth. The people and the society whom they neglected were the most chosen people by our Lord Jesus.

It is a bitter fact that today the world neglects such people. Now I would like to draw your attention towards the crib that we have made. Hope you all have seen the crib very closely. When we look at the crib it really brings us a kind of joy as if Jesus is indeed born in our own place. But whenever I look at a crib, it makes me a little sad, because one of my favourite person, who really deserves to get a place in the crib, is not found in that crib. Can anyone guess...? He is the owner of the stable and the manger. No one remembers him. Joseph and Mary knocked the doors of many rich and royal people to get a place for Jesus to be born. But no one offered a place. Probably Joseph and Mary’s outward poverty is the guardian of this mystery. If Joseph and Mary had looked as if they were rich, people would have made room for them in their houses or at least in the inn, because of Mary’s condition. They would have turned out other less important guests; they would have found a way to keep them. Since Joseph and Mary looked poor, they neglected them. But another poor person comes forward to offer his small cow-shed all that he had for Messiah to be born. No one knows who that person was..! Nothing about him is recorded even in the scripture. Why..? Probably because he was a very poor man and might be an outcast. That is why no one minded him and no one bothered to remember him. If it were to be a king or royal rich person offered a place in their house or palace, I am sure his name would have been known very popularly now and even his name would have found a place in the scripture.

Friends, I am not trying to find fault or blame someone now. But I would like all of us to reflect on this truth. This crib belongs to that poor person, where as we forgot him and denied a place in the crib. We just forgot and neglected him and did not mind giving him at least a corner place in his own crib. Once again I am not here to blame anybody, but trying to point out the attitude of the whole humanity. 2000 years before people had the attitude of neglecting the poor and needy and that attitude has not been changed very much even now.

We have no right to ignore or neglect the people whom Jesus chose during his birth. He chose only that poor man and his family who gave Jesus a place to be born; He chose those poor shepherds to share the first joy of his birth. The place to be born he chose was the poorest of the poor. We should and must show and share our mercy to such poor people.

Why not we make few more statues for poor owner of that stable and for his wife and children and keep them in our crib? When we look at those statues will surely think of such poor and neglected people living around us. Those statues will move us to include poor and forgotten people in our Christmas celebration.

The real happiness is in only giving. Let's try to do something practically on this Christmas day. After this vigil Mass (Day Mass) before shaking hands with our friends and known people, let's go and shake hands with unknown and especially poor people and wish them happy Christmas. During your special Christmas lunch or dinner, give a seat in your dining table to a poor man. Before sharing your colourful Christmas gifts with your family and friends, share such gifts with outcasts, downtrodden, oppressed, poor and needy. After the devastating 'Vardah' typhoon thousands of people in Southern part of India (Chennai in State of Tamil Nadu) lost everything, even their hope to restart their life. This is the right time to show our compassion towards them if we really want to celebrate the Christmas meaningfully.

Christmas is a season of giving and the measure of being a Christian is to show our love and care to others. True love consists in what we give and do for another. Buying a gift is often much easier, but sometimes just being present there and being supportive can bring so much joy and happiness to others. In some case, presence and emotional support are better than monetary and material gifts. So let us present ourselves along with the presence of God to the people who are really in need of. In our given situation today we could include just one poor person and give him a meal and cloth him. That will bring the real joy, peace and hope that Jesus brought to us today. This is how we are giving a place for the poor owner of that stable in our crib.

Wish you all a very happy, blessed and meaningful Christmas.

God bless you all.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Cell: 9840995431

Saturday, January 9, 2016

The Baptism of Our Lord

Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to begin by sharing with you some of what a lady called Doris wrote about her life.

“My father abandoned his wife and four children when I was young. I never saw him and never heard from him and until I was 18 I believed he was dead. When Aunt Emma, my father’s sister, told me he was alive, I was astonished. I gave her my graduation picture to give to him, and hoped he would contact me. He never did. Later, when I committed my life to Jesus, I developed a relationship with Him and knew His love. Yet I was afraid of God the Father. Knowing Him as a tender and loving Father seemed impossible. One day I learned that my father had died. My deepest prayer to meet him would not be fulfilled. I felt an enormous hurt, and visited Aunt Emma. She told me a little about his life and death, and said he decided not to see me because he was too ashamed of his behaviour as a young father. He must have known, through her, that for 17 years I had asked about him. I stood near his grave engulfed in anguish. My search was over. This was as close as I would ever get to my father. I cried out to God, ‘It’s too late, too late! I have no father!’ At that point I heard a voice say, ‘I am your Father.’ I turned around but no one was there. Again I heard the words, this time softer. ‘I am your Father.’ It was hard to believe at first, but the God I had feared spoke to me. I felt His love surround me. Because God revealed Himself to me as Father, I no longer feel the hurt of an abandoned child, nor the pain from my fruitless search. I was healed so that only the memory and none of the pain remains. That afternoon in the lonely cemetery changed my life. Where God was once only a remote figure of the Trinity, He is now the Father I talk with, walk with, and praise each day. I realize this wonderful Father loves all His children so much that He impatiently awaits the day that He can draw us close to Himself forever.”

(Taken from Healing Through the Mass pages 24-25 by Robert DeGrandis, published and copyright 1992 by Resurrection Press and used by permission of the publishers.)

Just as our heavenly Father spoke to Doris, our Father also spoke on the day Jesus was baptized, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.” Because we are baptized we are beloved sons and daughters of God. Just as the Father said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him” when Jesus was baptized, the Father said over us when we were baptized, “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter.” On the day we were baptized we were changed forever. Imagine, you became a son or daughter of God on the day you were baptized, enjoying a new relationship with our Father. It was because of her baptism that Doris benefited from this beautiful relationship with her heavenly Father. We don’t think enough about our baptism, this most important event in our lives. If we reflected more on who we are since baptism how different we would be, how differently we would live.

The Sacrament of Baptism emphasizes this new relationship with our Father. Though the sacrament of Baptism removes our Original sin, it emphasizes more becoming a child of God and a member of the Church. That is why after baptism at the font, four signs in the sacrament symbolize for us this new relationship with God. If you listen to the prayers accompanying these four symbols they tell us about our new relationship with God.

Ø Firstly the child is anointed with the oil of chrism. This is the holy oil used by the bishop to anoint us on the forehead during Confirmation and to anoint the hands of a priest during his Ordination. Part of the prayer for the anointing during baptism is, “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”

Ø Secondly the white garment is put on the child. Part of the prayer accompanying putting on the white garment is, “…you have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity”.

Ø Thirdly a lighted candle is given to the parents, a symbol of receiving the light of Christ. Part of the prayer accompanying this is, “This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ.”

Ø Fourthly the ears and mouth of the child are blessed because they will hear the Word of God and the child will profess his/her faith.

Being baptized as children would make no sense and have no meaning if as we grew up we didn’t put our baptism into effect, if we didn’t live like people who have been baptized into the Catholic Church. I would like to remind here to the parents and the god parents the promise that you gave during the baptism of your children. The priest asks the parents in the following way: You have asked to have your children baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him/her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him/her up to keep God and our neighbour. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking? And the parents and the god parents say: “Yes, we do”. Now is the time for you my dear parents and god parents to reflect and see whether you truly fulfilled or fulfilling your duty towards your children as you have promised to God during their baptism. Once again I would like to remind you that it is your duty to bring your children up in the practice of the Catholic faith.

Dear friends, Our baptism when we were children would have been senseless if we did not decide for ourselves as we grew up that the decision made for us by our parents was in fact what we ourselves also wanted for ourselves. There is one occasion above all others during the year when we proclaim that what our parents did for us was what we also wanted, that is during the Easter Vigil when we renew our baptismal vows. Every sacrament has a lasting effect, our baptism was not just a magic formula recited over us by the priest to wash off original sin and give us a chance of getting to heaven. Baptism is like Ordination and marriage, it is something to be lived every day. When we were baptized it is as if the Father said over us as he said over Jesus, “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter.” Doris was privileged to experience this in a dramatic way. The rest of us live every day knowing God is our Father and we are his sons and daughters since we were baptized.

AMEN.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Christmas Homily - 2015

Rev Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

This year (2015) has been announced as "The Year of Mercy". To observe this year more meaningfully we should show our mercy to the poor and needy. We have no right to ignore or neglect the people whom Jesus chose during his birth. He chose only that poor man and his family who gave Jesus a place to be born; He chose those poor shepherds to share the first joy of his birth. The place to be born he chose was the poorest of the poor. During this year of mercy we should and must show and share our mercy to such poor people.

The real happiness is in only giving. Let's try to do something practically on this Christmas day. After this vigil Mass (Day Mass) before shaking hands with our friends and known people, let's go and shake hands with unknown and especially poor people and wish them happy Christmas. During your special Christmas lunch or dinner, give a seat in your dining table to a poor man. Before sharing your colourful Christmas gifts with your family and friends, share such gifts with outcasts, downtrodden, oppressed, poor and needy. After the devastating flood thousands of people in Southern part of India (State of Tamil Nadu) lost everything, even their hope to restart their life. This is the right time to show our mercy towards them if we really want to celebrate the Christmas meaningfully.

Wish you all a very happy, blessed and meaningful Christmas.

God bless you all.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Baptism of Our Lord

Is 55: 1-11; I John 5: 1-9; Mark 1: 7-11

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

For more than two weeks we have celebrated Jesus as an infant. Now once again we begin celebrating Jesus as an adult. Therefore appropriately we begin with Jesus’ first public appearance as an adult, his baptism by John the Baptist in the river Jordan.

Perhaps we wonder why Jesus requested John to baptize him. Jesus did not have any sins to repent of and the baptism offered by John the Baptist was for repentance of sins (Luke 3:3). When sinners went to John at the river Jordan they did so because they acknowledged their sinfulness and their baptism symbolized turning over a new leaf in their lives and leaving sin behind. Jesus, although like us in every way, was without sin, as the Letter to the Hebrews assures us (Heb 4:15). That explains why John the Baptist objected to Jesus’ request for baptism in the Gospel of Matt, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” (Matt 3:14). The answer Jesus gave John helps us to understand why Jesus wanted to be baptized, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15) “To fulfill all righteousness” is why Jesus wanted to be baptized. We might say it is difficult to understand this answer because Jesus was not lacking in righteousness and was already righteous. So how could his baptism fulfill all righteousness? I would like to draw your attention on Pope Benedict’s book “Jesus of Nazareth” pp 17-23 to help us to answer this question. Sinless Jesus did not have any sins of his own to take down into the river Jordan; therefore it could only have been our sins that he took down into the river Jordan. Naturally no one would understand this at that time but they would realize this later when they understood that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. So Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan and his dying on the cross go together; he did both for our sins. He took our sins on his shoulders as he went down into the Jordan and as he died on the cross.

I think we can see this close connection between Jesus’ baptism and his cross in the Scriptures.

v The prophet Isaiah prophesied that a servant would suffer because of our sins (Isa 52:13-53:12). You are familiar with this prophecy of Isaiah from hearing it every year on Good Friday. This servant would be righteous and by his suffering would make sinners righteous. We obviously see this prophecy predicting Jesus’ Passion.

v Jesus, when speaking in prophecy about his Passion, described it as a baptism. “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50) When James and John wanted to sit in glory beside Jesus he spoke about his Passion to them but we can be sure that they understand only later. Jesus said, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mark 10:38)

v The Gospel of John tells us that when John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching him in the river Jordan he proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) It is interesting that as Jesus appears at the river Jordan John the Baptist mentions that Jesus takes away the sin of the world. It is also interesting that John the Baptist describes Jesus as the Lamb of God. In the Gospel of John Jesus dies on the cross as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the temple. The Passover lambs were slaughtered in remembrance of the first Passover lambs whose blood was smeared on the doorposts the last night the Hebrews spent in Egypt to protect them from death. Jesus is the new Passover Lamb of the New Covenant who shed his blood for us to save us from our sins and already at his baptism he is proclaimed by John to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

On the cross Jesus took our sins on himself and made us righteous. When Jesus was baptized he was looking forward to taking our sins on himself on the cross. So when Jesus was baptized he was already taking our guilt down into the river Jordan. In this way we can see that when Jesus was baptized all righteousness was fulfilled. When Jonah was thrown overboard the ship the life of everyone else on the ship was spared (Jon 1:12-15) and when Jesus took our sins and unrighteousness on his shoulders we were saved and this begins with his baptism in the Jordan. So when Jesus is baptized he is already accepting his Passion and death.

Just as there is a close link between Jesus’ baptism and his cross there is a close link between our baptism and Jesus’ cross. Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us,

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3-4)

Paul is saying that when we were baptized we spiritually entered the tomb with Jesus to leave a life of sin behind. When we were baptized we buried sin by spiritually entering the tomb with Jesus and we rose again with the new life of Jesus just as Jesus rose to new life out of the tomb. Our baptism, just like the other six sacraments, receives its power from Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our baptism is a sharing in the effects and salvation of Jesus’ death and resurrection, a sharing in the new life of Jesus we receive from his death and resurrection.

The Sacrament of Baptism emphasizes a new relationship with our Father. Though the sacrament of Baptism removes our Original sin, it emphasizes more becoming a child of God and a member of the Church. That is why after baptism at the font, four signs in the sacrament symbolize for us this new relationship with God. If you listen to the prayers accompanying these four symbols they tell us about our new relationship with God.

Ø Thirdly a lighted candle is given to the parents, a symbol of receiving the light of Christ. Part of the prayer accompanying this is, “This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ.”

Ø Fourthly the ears and mouth of the child are blessed because they will hear the Word of God and the child will profess his/her faith.

Being baptized as children would make no sense and have no meaning if we don’t put our baptism into effect and if we don’t live like people who have been baptized into the Catholic Church. I would like to remind here to the parents and the god parents the promise that you gave during the baptism of your children. The priest asks the parents in the following way: You have asked to have your children baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him/her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him/her up to keep God and our neighbour. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking? And the parents and the god parents say: “Yes, we do”. Now is the time for you my dear parents and god parents to reflect and see whether you truly fulfilled or fulfilling your duty towards your children as you have promised to God during their baptism. Once again I would like to remind you that it is your duty to bring your children up in the practice of the Catholic faith.

Another important fact to be understood today is about all the seven Sacraments. All the Sacraments in the first place bring forth sacramental grace. It is the plan of God that we should receive these sacraments regularly to keep us alive. Baptism is the first sacrament that a person receives, and is called sacrament of initiation.

Dear friends, Our baptism when we were children would have been senseless if we did not decide for ourselves as we grew up that the decision made for us by our parents was in fact what we ourselves also wanted for ourselves. There is one occasion above all others during the year when we proclaim that what our parents did for us was what we also wanted, that is during the Easter Vigil when we renew our baptismal vows. Every sacrament has a lasting effect, our baptism was not just a magic formula recited over us by the priest to wash off original sin and give us a chance of getting to heaven. Baptism is like Ordination and marriage, it is something to be lived every day. When we were baptized it is as if the Father said over us as he said over Jesus, “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter. Our baptism is a sharing in the effects and salvation of Jesus’ death and resurrection, a sharing in the new life of Jesus we receive from his death and resurrection. Jesus was baptized so that all righteousness might be fulfilled and this happens when we live our baptism by turning from sin to live the life of Jesus and all righteousness is fulfilled.

AMEN.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Saturday, January 3, 2015

EPIPHANY

Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3 Mt 2:1-12

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Once, a little girl and her mother were looking at the Nativity scene. The mother was explaining that the Wise Men were presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn King. The little girl looked in great adoration at the babe in the manger, then turning to her mother, thoughtfully asked, "Why didn’t they bring Him a bed?"

Let us now imagine ourselves in the presence of baby Jesus, and Mary and Joseph. We are surprised to see men of eastern appearance come. They see baby Jesus and fall on their knees. They offer him homage and give him presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh, gold because Jesus is king, frankincense since Jesus is divine and myrrh prefiguring his Passion. They tell us about the star and about Herod who knew nothing about Jesus’ birth. After their stay they set out on their return journey eastwards but not via Jerusalem since they want to avoid Herod. After their departure we spend time with baby Jesus.

We do not have gold, frankincense and myrrh to give to baby Jesus, but we can surely give him our love. Let our love be his manger.

There are many lessons to be learnt from the feast of Epiphany. For me the first lesson is “God is for everyone, for both rich and poor, good and bad, wise and fool etc...! Epiphany is ‘manifestation of God’. At Bethlehem during his birth Jesus manifested himself to the poor shepherds and to the poor family that offered him a place to be born. Today Jesus manifests himself to the three kings, the rich and elite. This simply means that the Messiah is for all. For Him all are equal and same. He is not just for one particular caste, not for one meticulous group alone, not for one scrupulous race alone, not for one linguistic group, not for only poor and not for only elite alone. The feast of Epiphany affirms that God is for everyone and no one has the right to reserve God, His gospel and the Sacraments to only some particular caste or meticulous group and avoid the other.

Secondly, even while Jesus was only a little baby he experienced both acceptance from the wise men and rejection from Herod. The wise men and Herod had two opposing attitudes, searching for God and being closed to God. We see that the wise men were blessed in their search for the Saviour by finding Jesus. We also need to search for Jesus and should like to come ever closer to him. Let us ask Jesus to help us to draw ever closer to him and if we are closed to him like Herod, ask him to help us to open so that we can find him. Let us ask Jesus to help us in drawing closer to him.

Not only the wise men and Herod had different attitudes to Jesus, they also had different attitudes to life. The wise men were generous; Herod was selfish wanting to hold on to his throne. The magi gave him gifts; but Herod killed all boys under two years of age. The wise men were willing to put energy and goodness into life, Herod wanted to get all he could from life. The magi who sacrificed to put into life were happy, Herod who took all he could from life was unhappy. Let us now pray to Baby Jesus, to help us to foster a healthy attitude towards life, giving and caring, instead of grasping, and being selfish and possessive. Let us pray now asking Jesus to help us develop ever more wholesome attitudes towards life.

The magi were lucky. They were given the guidance of a star. In the darkness of this world we have all been given help on our journey to God; the beauty of nature, the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, Spirit-filled witnessing and preaching, the faith of others and our own faith. For a moment let us thank God for giving us stars to lead us to him.

When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, it seems they no longer had the guidance of the star, otherwise they would not have had to ask Herod for advice. Sometimes we too feel as if we’re in the dark, like the magi. Sometimes what or whom we relied on, is not there anymore. Sometimes we see only darkness around us. But we must know and believe deeply that our Saviour is there, and that eternal life awaits us even if sometimes in this world there is no star for us. In our moments of darkness without a star, let us pray to Jesus to help us not to give up but to keep searching, hoping and praying because that would be the best way forward. Let us pray now for strength to remain steadfast when there is no guiding star.

The three wise men went in search of a child king and found him. And when they found him, they treasured him so much that they wouldn’t let anything take him from them. Those three wise men went back to their homes and families, but you can be sure they took Christ with them in their hearts. You can be sure their lives were greatly changed. They had an aim, a greater aim and they achieved it.

People, who live only for the here and now, who have nothing high to aim for, no dream to follow, no rainbow to chase, cut themselves short in life. But it is the same with those who think no further than their life span here on earth. There’s a minister who asked a high school student what his plans were for his life. This is how the conversation went:

“Well,” said the boy, “I plan to go on to college and become a lawyer.” “Then what?” continued the minister. “Then I hope to join a law firm and make a lot of money. Of course I want to marry and have children, own a beautiful house with a swimming pool, and belong to a country club.” “Then what?” asked the minister. “Then I’ll retire, play golf, travel, and visit my grandchildren.”

“And?” persisted the minister. “And what?” asked the boy who was getting annoyed and irritated by the questions. “And what are your plans after that?” the minister asked. “Nothing! That’s it! I guess I’ll die!” replied the boy. “Then you’re cutting yourself short,” the minister told him.

Anyone who has no plans at all, no star which he is pursuing is not getting much out of life. That’s obvious. But not so obvious is that which eluded this high school boy with all his plans for the future - that same thing that eludes many people. If your plans only include what you hope to do while you are living on this earth, if your plans only go as far as your death, then you are cutting yourself short. How about your life after death? What are your plans for that one? Do you have any? Or is your attention directed towards your few short years on this planet?

I assume that you are here in church today because you do give some thought to your life hereafter. I hope my assumption is correct. But if I’m wrong and you are here merely to make your life on earth a better one, you are being short-sighted. For your life on earth is but a speck in time in comparison to your life in eternity. You, nor I, nor anyone, should ever pursue plans and dreams that are not looked at from the viewpoint of our eternal life. Just as an astronaut planning a future life on Mars or some other planet would direct all his decisions and energies towards preparing for that life, so too should we who plan an eternity in heaven direct all our decisions and energies towards preparing for life with God. If we don’t, we are the crazy ones, not the guy on the camel following a star to his saviour.

I hope you have a dream. I hope you have many of them. But I pray that the main one is to spend eternity in heaven. And that your other dreams are pursued with that in mind — so that no matter what you do in this life, it will prepare you for the unending one to come. No matter what you do, I hope it helps to pack your bags with all you need for your life hereafter. The high school boy had plans that reached only into his retirement years - nothing for after that. He had no idea what he would do at the end of his retirement. Do you?

Our three wise kings let nothing stand in their way, not even the evil Herod. They were looking for the only way to heaven. And when they found Him, they gave him their everything. They returned home to live good lives in preparation for the one to come. May you share in their wisdom, and make Jesus Christ the guiding star of your life!

AMEN.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Mother of God

Num 6:22-27; Gal 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

Dear members of the Body of Christ, today it is January 1^st. Another day and another year has begun. I suppose with all the news in the media during the past year on terrorist activities, wars here and there, natural disasters, many must have thought that they would never see the arrival of this year. Well, here it is and a happy Mary, the Mother of God's Feast to all of you my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Do you recall the story? Jesus was taking His morning walk through heaven. He met there some nasty people who should be in the other place. Angrily He went to the front gates to bawl Peter out. In his defence, the apostle said, "Lord, when the unworthy come here, I chase them away and tell them to go to hell. But then they go to the back door, knock softly, and your mother sneaks them in." The Christ smiled and apologized to Peter. He promised to go fishing with him soon. Then He whistled softly as He went off to have lunch with Mozart and Bach.

Today's special Feast affirms that we Catholics believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary truly is the Mother of God. This Catholic Dogma finds its origin in a Bible passage that is found in the Gospel of Luke. After the archangel Gabriel had appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Upon her arrival, Elizabeth said to Mary, "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" [Lk. 1:43] Through Elizabeth who was full of the Holy Spirit, it was proclaimed that Mary was truly the Mother of God.

When Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, identified the fruit of the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the words, "the mother of my Lord," she was referring to the Lord, the One God of the Old and New Testaments. This one biblical passage is undeniable proof that Jesus is God incarnated, therefore qualifying the Blessed Virgin Mary to the elevated honour and title of "Mother of God."

The second proof also can be traced from the same passage: (Lk 1:41) “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb”. The child in the womb of Elizabeth was John the Baptist. He jumped out of joy in the womb of his mother. To understand this incident clearly we need to go back to Old Testament. Read 2 Samuel 6: 1-5. It speaks about the Ark of the Covenant, which was containing the tablets of Ten Commandments. Whenever it was taken in procession, David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals. And they used to dance and sing joyfully before the Ark of the Covenant, because David and his men realised and felt the presence of God in it.

Similarly, John the Baptist being in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, realised and felt the presence of God (Jesus) in the womb of Mary. That was the reason why he danced in the womb of his mother, confirming that the baby in the womb of Mary is God, and the Mary is the Mother of God. This is again another undeniable proof that Jesus is God incarnated, therefore qualifying the Blessed Virgin Mary to the elevated honour and title of "Mother of God."

Let’s now come back to the concept of New Year. The name "January" comes from the Roman god Janus or Januarius, the god with two faces, each having its own pair of eyes, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the New Year ahead of us. How did I spend this one year of my life that has just passed? Did I use it to advance my goals and objectives in life? Did I use it to enhance the purpose of my existence? Could I have done better last year in the way I invested my time between the demands of work, family, friends and society, and the demands of my spiritual life? What things did I achieve last year and what did I fail to achieve? How can I consolidate the achievements of last year while reversing the failures and losses in this New Year? Through soul searching questions like these we find that a review of the past year naturally leads to setting goals and resolutions for the New Year.

There are people who tell you that there is no point making New Year resolutions. Do not believe them. We must set goals and make resolutions as a necessary conclusion to our review of the past year. And we do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.

Today's newspapers are full of individual and collective New Year resolutions. Most of those, however, are not resolutions at all but only wishes. What is the difference between a resolution and a wish? A wish identifies a goal one wants to reach; a resolution specifies the steps one will take to reach it. A wish says this is where I want to be, a resolution says this is the road I will take, and this is what I will do to get there. The wishful person says "I want to pass my exams this year" and the resolved person says "I will devote an extra hour to my studies everyday in order to pass my exams." The wishful person says "I will have more peace and love in my family this year" and the resolved person says "I will spend more time with my family at table instead of rushing off to the TV, so that we get to know and understand ourselves better." The wishful person says "I will live a life of union with God this year" and the resolved person says "I will set aside this time everyday to pray and hear God's word." The difference between wishing and resolving is: are we prepared to do what it takes to make our dreams come true, are we prepared to pay the price?

The gospel today presents Mary to us as a model of that new life in Christ that all of us wish for ourselves in the New Year. There we see that Mary was prepared to do something to realize this goal. What did she do? We read that the shepherds, when they went to adore the Child Jesus in the manger, told all that the angels had said to them. "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Again after the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, we are told that "His mother treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). Mary was a woman who valued the word of God, who treasured it and made time to meditate and ponder it. It is true that the holiness of Mary is attributed to the grace of God, but this should not make us forget that she needed to make an effort in order to cooperate with the grace of God. She pondered the word of God in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life as the handmaid of God.

The two examples above of Mary pondering the word of God, namely, after the visit of the shepherds and after the finding in the temple, show that Mary found the word of God both in divine revelation (the angels' words to the shepherds) and in her own experiences (her encounter with her son in the temple). Similarly God speaks to us today through divine revelation (e.g. the Bible, the teaching and preaching of the Church) as well as through our personal experiences, if only we made time to reflect on them as Mary did.

Whatever the situation in which we find ourselves - a hardship, a disappointment, a decision to make - God has a solution, an answer that is right for us. We tell God about it in prayer but we also listen to what God has to tell us about it. Prayer is a conversation with God but sometimes all we do is pick up the phone, read out the list of our problems to God and drop the phone without listening to hear what God has to say to us. Let us today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure God's word and ponder it in our hearts. Then shall we be able to realize our New Year resolution of a new life in union with God.

I heard a preacher speak of a mother who goes each visiting day to spend time with her daughter in a psychiatric hospital. The daughter has been estranged from her for years. She refuses in the rudest way possible to meet with her mother. Still the next visiting day finds the mother back again hoping to speak with her child. The preacher wisely compared this mother to Mary who never gives up on anyone of us no matter how wretched we are.

Fulton Sheen said whenever there is a decline in purity or the sanctity of marriage, there is a decline in devotion to Mary. When we find increasing number of problems, struggle and stress, then there is a decline in devotion to Mary. He says it falls on us to revive that devotion by reviving it in our lives. As we joyfully and hopefully begin this New Year, let us entrust ourselves and our families into the hands of Mary our Mother with deep trust and faith, and ask her to intercede for us to her Son. Mary is not only the Mother of God; she has been given to us as our Mother as well, so that we can hold her hand and continue our journey in faith. We need Mary as our Mother to support us on our journey through the New Year. We need her faith when we don’t see a way, her hope when we run into a dead end and her love when others desert us. May Mary’s memory never leave us, and may her image always inspire us..! Let us love her and honour her all the times and ask her to lead us to her Son Jesus our Messiah.

AMEN.

Fr. A. Christopher, HGN