LOVE INTENTIONALLY
It is dark in the morning now. And it gets dark so early here in the evening. The news is mostly dark too.
Despite all of our shiny new resolutions our broken world can feel overwhelmingly daunting. Some of us thought the pandemic might be over by last May. Now here we are 11 months into it and just a glimmer of hope erases some of the darkness in our own broken spirits with the arrival of vaccines.
Yesterday was not only the first day of 2021 but it was a feast day in my church called The Solemnity of Mary.
Mary was a young girl who was visited by an angel . Let that sink in. How afraid would we be?
Then she is asked if she will take on the mission of becoming the mother of God. No pressure!
In Luke 1 :26-38 we read in the bible…..
Six months after Elizabeth had become pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary.When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, “You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you.”She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant.The angel told her,“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God.
You will become pregnant, give birth to a son,
and name him Jesus.
He will be a great man
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his ancestor David.
Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever,
and his kingdom will never end.”Mary asked the angel, “How can this be? I’m a virgin.”The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God. “Elizabeth, your relative, is six months pregnant with a son in her old age. People said she couldn’t have a child. But nothing is impossible for God.”Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.”
Mary did not push back and say, ” No thanks.This is too weird. I don’t want this responsibility.” Her “Yes” to the request from God brought her much darkness and heartache. But it brought us a Mother who understands our fears and concerns. A mother who we can count on and lean on too. She is also known as the Queen of Peace.
Let us call on our Mother Mary when we feel broken. I try and draw closer to Our Lady through the Rosary but you can whisper a tiny prayer to her and she will buoy you up. She can teach us how to see The Light and how to let the light shine through us!
Jesus says on the cross, “Behold your Mother.” As we all jump into the frenzy of the new year and start attempting to bring our resolutions to fruition, let us call on the aid of our Mother Mary to give us the strength to draw closer to her Son every day this year.(Catholics comehome.org)
Let us ‘love intentionally’ this year. I hope we DO lose weight. I hope we DO cut back on the drinking or any number of New Year’s resolutions. But I also hope that we will try and ‘be the light’ for those that we love and those that need our love.
Happy New Year !