NEW YEAR VIGIL MASS and MARY MOTHER OF GOD 24

STEPPING INTO THE NEW YEAR 2024 (31 DECEMBER 2023 – NIGHT MASS)   Focus: Focused and Renewed! Indicative: The graced life of Christmas is a constant invitation to live in a state of grace which is in contrast to a life of vice and evil. It is a call to be pro-Christ and for Christ and not antichrist   1.      One more year is finishing and slipping into the past calendar. At the end of the year 2023, many may be in the mood of recollection of the past and planning for the future. Yes, it is a double-edged mood: recollection leading to reconstruction, review leading to renewal. 2.      We shall recollect past memories and situations. It is not to regret or lament over past lapses, mistakes or failures. But it is to learn from past defects and deficiencies to grow into a better future. 3.      Perhaps it has been another hard year after the brunt of the pandemic. Perhaps, we have not yet completely recovered from our bitter and painful, failed and deprived, frightening and worrisome experiences. 4.      The reasons to be sad and upset seem to be more than those to rejoice and be calm. The spirit of joy and peace that Christmas promises does not seem to make sense in the lives of many. 5.      But, the ending of 2023 and the beginning of the new year 2024 shall reignite our dulled spirits. Nothing, however sad or bad, painful or lamentable, unpleasant and unfavourable, shall strike down our energy and zest for life. 6.      Why? The sole reason is God. The birth of Christ is not a past, bygone event. Christ who was born on Christmas day, continues to live in the new year. He walks into our journey of the new year. The Word who became flesh dwells among us, fully of grace and truth. 7.      We are reminded again that He gives us the power to become the children of God through the gift of faith. He is the Word of God, the communication of God with us, the medium through which God reveals himself to us. 8.      He is the life that becomes the light of all. He is the Light that enlightens everyone. This light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. He is the light that enlightens everyone. From his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. We all know the truth. We have been anointed by the Holy One. 9.      Therefore, we have better and more valid reasons to rejoice than to grumble and blame. The blessings and the spiritual success we experience count more than all the troubles and losses put together. Nothing shall keep low our soaring spirits. Let our review of the past help us to renew our present to build a better future.   Imperative: At the closure of the outgoing year 2023, let our prime focus be on guarding ourselves and witnessing to the Lord against antichrists. Accepting the truth and light and walking in their path shall be our fitting turning point in the year to come   (Reflection 2)   Thrust: Last hour but not lost! Indicative: We are at the end of the current year and the threshold of a new year. This shall not be a time of remorse and regret, nor shall it be a time of fear and cynicality   1.      We are on the last day of 2023 and toward the beginning of 2023. This is a contrast: the “last” and the “beginning”. In fact, we have this dialectic in today’s readings. In the first reading, we have the mention of the “last hour”, and then in the gospel, we have the mention of the “beginning". 2.       This contrast can indicate to us what we should resolve in these last hours for the coming year. As the first reading states, surely in our times too, “many antichrists have come”. Many who have been with us, went out of us. 3.       It does not refer merely to human relationships and friendships. This is mainly a matter of clinging to a genuine relationship with God and others. It is a matter of being faithful to godly and humane values. 4.       The last hour refers to a constant existential situation of struggle and battle between the godly and the ungodly, the spiritual and the unspiritual, and the new and the old. Therefore, end the old year with a sincere review and evaluation of our fidelity to Christ. Have we been on the side of Christ? Have we tended to fall among antichrists? 5.       In the light of this healthy self-check, we need to resolve to “begin anew”. Start afresh. We remind ourselves that we start the new year with Christ born for us. We have his light that will illumine our whole journey, all our paths. 6.       Let one thought continue to stir and guide us: Am I, are we - For Christ, or against Christ? In Christ or out of Christ? Near to Christ or Far from Christ? Lighted by Christ? Darkened without Christ? Born of Christ or dead, away from Christ? Anointed by Christ or tainted by the evil one? Knowing Christ or Ignorant of Christ? Experiencing Christ or being indifferent to Christ?   Imperative: He was in the world but the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. He is in me and amid us. But do I know and receive him?   01 JANUARY 2024: NUMBERS 6. 22-27; GALATIANS 4. 4-7; LUKE 2. 16-21, NEW YEAR, MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD   Focus: Grateful and Faithful! Indicative: The New Year that we step in opens up for us new avenues with new hope and assurance, with renewed confidence and courage, for God is with us 1.      We are stepping into another new year 2024. At these first moments of the new year, let us first warm ourselves with a warm sentiment of gratitude for the whole of the last year. No doubt that it had its own woes and struggles. But it shall not blind us to the positive and the blessings. 2.       There are very many things to thank God and others for. The experiences of God’s protection, care, love, guidance, nourishment, and power that gave us the taste of success, satisfaction, joy, and strength have been constant and deep. 3.       The experiences of the goodness of others through concern and support are too numerous. We have many reasons to be grateful. The very fact that we are able to celebrate this New Year is a clear sign of God’s blessing. 4.       Of course, we want to be realistic. The New Year is not a magical rod that will vanquish all the fears and problems. It would be foolish to think so. Most of the same old challenges and burdens will travel into the New Year as well. But, what makes the difference is when we carry God also into the New Year along with all these 5.       At the threshold of this New Year, we are assured of God’s company and blessing. We hear in the first reading from the book of Numbers, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace”. 6.       This blessing by God is symbolized by celebrating the naming of Jesus and the Motherhood of Mary. Thereby we are assured that the New Year will be blessed because we are sealed and shielded by the powerful name of Jesus. 7.       We shall march forward and surge ahead because we walk in his holy name and under his sacred tutelage. The name and the power of Jesus shall be our identity, our guide, and direction, our weapon, and our security. 8.       Further, we are entrusted to the motherhood of Mary. All our New Year shall be specially mothered by her. She will take care of us with a mother’s tenderness. She will direct us closer to her divine Son. She will obtain forgiveness for our faults and wrongs. She will obtain for us the needed graces to live authentically and fruitfully.   Imperative: All that is needed to experience the newness of life in the New Year 2024 is to be constantly aware of the dignity of our vocation as the sons and daughters of God, to find him in the manger of our hearts and surrender our lives to the holy name of Jesus and the sweet mothering of Mary (Reflection 2) Thrust: Newness with new breath! Indicative: We enter another New Year. Anything new brings a lot of excitement and freshness. And we have every reason   1.      At last, we made it. We could step into another New Year. We could sail over storms and strong winds. We could cut across mountain-like boundaries and barriers. We could walk ahead along the rugged and hindered road. We reached the new shore, the new station 2024. 2.       The very fact that we have made it despite the fears, challenges, uncertainties, and vicissitudes, is a thing to rejoice about. That we are able to see the dawn of a new year in the history of our life, is something great and worth-celebrating. 3.      At this point, I place before you a few indicators for our journey 2024: Gratitude, Certitude, Plenitude, Rectitude, and Beatitude. The entry into the new year must well up within us a deep sense of gratitude to God. It is only because of His love, care, mercy, light, and power that we are in 2024. 4.       How right is the psalmist in Psalm 227: If the Lord does not build the house, in vain the labourers labour. If the Lord does not guard, in vain the guards keep vigil. Yes, if the mercy of God does not flow on us, in vain will all our efforts and plans be. 5.       So we shall thank God and we shall remain ever grateful to Him all through. Along with God, let us also be thankful to every person who accompanied us along the journey of 2023. There are so many that directly or indirectly supported us, sustained our steps, and strengthened our efforts in one way or another. 6.       The more we nurture a grateful spirit, the more life will be joyful. Because gratitude is not merely a matter of listing the favours received or great things enjoyed. Real gratitude is a blend of faith, love, and hope. 7.       One can be grateful to God because he believes in God, trusts in His goodness, and cultivates faith in good. A faithless heart can never be grateful because it does not see and recognise the good. 8.       One becomes grateful because he sees with love. He sees the presence and action of love. He sees the power and effect of love. Experiences of love lead to real gratitude. Gratitude is nothing but rejoicing over the beauty of love. 9.       A grateful heart is also deeply hopeful. Hope renews our aspirations and expectations, dreams and ambitions. Hope instils new vision, vistas, and horizons. Hope commits us to new efforts, new initiatives, and new challenges. Hope recharges us with new vigour and energies. 10.   Thus, true hope is something divine and lofty. It is not merely wishing good and aspiring high. Hope is essentially a benevolent spirit that perseveres and travels ahead and beyond. So true gratitude arises only because of such hopefulness. 11.   Then, the new year becomes new because of certitude. True it is that problems and difficulties will not totally disappear. Fears and worries will not completely leave us. But certitude leads us ahead. We are sure and certain that God will never abandon us. 12.   In the light of today’s naming of Jesus and the motherhood of Mary, we are sealed in the most sacred name of Jesus. We are safe and secure in his powerful name. No harm or evil can befall us and knock us off because we are entrusted to the divine maternity of Mary. We are assured of God’s grace. 13.   New Year is new because of the plenitude and plentitude of blessings. That is what the first reading from the book of Numbers proclaims and promises. Evil may abound but grace will superabound. Fears may assai but confidence will prevail. Failures may pull us down but successes will raise us up. 14.   Disappointments may trouble us but reinforcements will console us. Darkness may surround us but rays of light will abound around us. Falsities may frighten us but truth will lighten and enlighten us. Confusions may blur us but clarity and insight of the Spirit will clear our path. resentments and hatred may distress us but love and compassion will redress and fortress us. 15.   Aggression and violence may knock us down but meekness and tolerance will unlock the streams of peace and serenity. Selfishness may strike us hard but selfless generosity will hike us aboard. Pride and arrogance may throw us down but humility and magnanimity will row us up. Anger and fury may disturb our spirits but patience and gentleness will give us superb solace. 16.   New year is a call for a new life of rectitude. Think right, speak night, act right. Then all will be alright. Then life will turn into a beatitude for others. We not only give blessings to others. Rather, we ourselves will become blessings to others.   Imperative: With genuine gratitude, selfless surrender, and undying hopefulness, we shall walk ahead, sheltered under the wings of the sacred name of Jesus and the motherhood of Mary.