A Prayer
Heavenly Father,
You have given me another year!
What are Your plans for me?
You ave given me this Time to do not my own will,
but Yours as Jesus did.
Fill me, mold me and shape me into your Divine Image,
So that all I do this coming Year
Will be pleasing to you,
And bear fruit that will transform this world,
Into the Garden you always intended it to be.
I ask this through Christ my Lord.
Only in the Eucharist
It is New Year's Eve!
Do you want to look back or forward?
It all depends.
Where have you been and where are you going?
On New Year's Eve we straddle the past and the future.
Memories become mixed with dreams.
Tears with Hope.
Laughter with Sighs.
We see the faces of those no longer with us,
And wonder whose face we will see in the year ahead.
We think about the things we did,
And make resolutions to do better.
On New Year’s Eve, The past, the present and the future all seem to blend into one moment.
In Mass The past, the present and the future all come together in one Heavenly Moment!
For in Heaven the Past, the Present and the Future all come together in one Eternal Now.
At Mass we Remember.
We remember all that Jesus did for us,
His birth, His Death and His Resurrection.
At Mass we remember all our loved ones who are no longer here with us.
At Mass we Give Thanks for what we have Today.
Our life and our loves.
And at Mass we look Forward to that Day,
Where there will be no more mourning or suffering.
Where everyone we love will be gathered around the Table in our Heavenly Father’s house for one Never Ending Thanksgiving Dinner.
Every Mass is a New Year’s Eve.
We look Back on our lives.
We Give thanks for what we have Today.
And we look Forward to the Supper of the Lamb,
Around Our Heavenly Father’s table with all our family and friends.
Every Mass, is New Year’s Eve
When we look back, give thanks today and get ready for what is to come.
Lk. 2:36-40
Anna never left the Temple,
but stayed there worshipping day and night, fasting and praying.
And because she did;
She was there when Mary and Joseph Presented Jesus in the Temple.
Every parish needs an Anna.
Someone who is always in Church;
Keeping the doors unlocked.
Praying day and night.
Keeping the Flame of Faith burning.
For they are the living Flame of Faith
Like the Tabernacle Candle
Always present before the Lord.
Thomas was the Archbishop of Canterbury and martyred on this day in 1170 in the Cathedral by henchmen from King Henry.
Thomas defended the rights of the Church against the King Henry.
Sometimes we have to defend the Church in our own hearts as society and government try to influence us against the Faith.
And so we must guard our hearts and our Faith.
Even at the cost of rejection and ridicule.
Toyland is a very special place
Filled with magic and wonder and imagination.
But once you cross its borders you can ne’er return again.
It is the same with innocence.
As a child we are innocent.
And the world is a place of magic and wonder and imagination.
But one day we wake up and it is all gone.
Our dreams are replaced with cynicism and all of the other other “isms”
That compete for our attention, our vote and our time.
Like Herod who killed the Holy Innocents;
The world seeks to kill our Innocence
And only the Innocence of the Christ child,
Wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,
Can save us and bring us back to our Innocence.
And this is why we are drawn to Christmas;
Not only to see a Child lying in a manger;
But hoping to find our Innocence once again.
What makes Christianity different from all other religions
Is the Incarnation.
God becoming flesh.
Judaism, Islam and Buddhism do not believe this.
But as Christians we believe that the Son of God became flesh.
That He has eyes and ears and hands just like us.
This is why St. John writes about what he has
Heard with his ears
Seen with his eyes
And touched with with hands.
Because he heard and saw and touched the Son of God.
How glorious that must have been.
If only we could do that.
Well we can.
Because of the Incarnation
God has eyes and ears and hands just like us.
So if God is like us,
Then we are like God.
This is why God became flesh.
So that we can hear and see and touch God,
In each other.
There are many different types of families.
There is the immediate family
With moms and dads and children.
There is also the parish family,
Made up of all the Parishoners.
And There is the Human Family.
Made up of every race, language and people.
And For a family to be Holy
Each member of the Family must play their part.
So What role do we play in our various families?
In our immediate family?
In our parish family?
In the Human Family?
In our immediate family
Are we loving and supportive?
Do we give and take?
In our Parish Family,
Are we Faithful to coming to Church?
Do we give more to the Church than just when the collection comes around?
In our Human Family,
Are we concerned with those around us?
And that we are all children of God?
Maybe if we started treating all those in our different families
The way Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Treated each other.
Then maybe our immediate family,
And our parish family
And the human family,
Would become Holy Families.
