Come and See Retreat

Dear friends,

Hopefully these coming months, more time will be afforded to write on the blog about some of the upcoming events we have in the Vocation Office.

On October 22-24th, the Vocation Office will be sponsoring a "Come and See" Retreat at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. This is a special opportunity for young men over the age of 16 to come visit the seminary for the weekend.

Why do we have a retreat like this? For many young men, a formal visit to the seminary can go a long way to help them discern whether or not they are called to take the next step towards the priesthood and enter the seminary. It can be that spark that one needs. It can also help one discern that perhaps they are not called.

In any retreat one makes, the individual should be open to hear the voice of God, and be open to doing whatever God is asking of you. The purpose of a retreat is to take time away so one can hear the voice of God, and to grow in holiness.

If you are reading this, and you are a young man who has possibly considered the priesthood, this retreat might be for you. This retreat is intended for those who have been considering the priesthood for a while, and it is also for those who have just started to think about the priesthood.

For more information, please visit our website, HeedTheCall. Here, you can sign up online, or you can call the Vocation Office to sign up.

God bless.

New Vocation Director

Dear friends,

As of June 21st, Father Kevin Gallagher has become the Vocation Director of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Please pray for Fr. Gallagher as he begins his new ministry of full time vocation work, working with many young men who are discerning the call to the priesthood. More posts on this blog will be forthcoming. God bless.

I Make All Things New

5th Sunday of Lent

We had an eventful week, this week. The celebration of St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Day and the start of March Madness. In that light it was a terrible week for me. I'm a Temple University Fan. What started off last Sunday as a great week, with the winning of the A-10 Championship Game, turned bad with our seating in the tournament and then worst with our loss on Friday to Cornell. Misery loves company though, so it was some consolation yesterday to see Villanova lose. Now we're all miserable, even Kansas lost!

In light of all that, we hear today's reading from Isaiah: God is doing something new. Remember not the events of the past, things long ago consider not, I am doing something new. Do you not perceive it? Theese my friends are words of command, words of hope as well. I make a way, in the desert, I put water in the desert, I bring hope to my people. Certainly, words of hope to Israel but to you and me today, for they are the words of God who is with us.

Today, we see that Word of God Jesus, bringing tremendous hope to his people. And specifically, to this poor woman who is brought to him.

Clearly, this woman was not having a good day. We are told that she was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Can you imagine?! The shame of that, they catch her and they drag her thru the streets...She has no defense, no excuse, nothing to hide behind, there she is right in the middle, brought before the Lord.

And we see what our Lord does. He does not take away her past or undermine it. He does not console her or put rose colored glasses on the scene. Rather, he bends down and slowly he reveals to all that she is not the only sinner in their midst. She has company....And as they all disappear into their holes, he says to her, has no one condemned you? "Neither do I, condemn you...Go and sin no more."

My friends, what a scene...What a meeting. St. Paul describes his meeting with Christ as something that transformed his life, in fact all else is rubbish compared to meeting Christ Jesus as Lord! To know and to experience the mercy of God is the greatest of all gifts.

Chances are we will not be dragged by others to Jesus. But we need at times to drag ourselves to him, to meet his mercy for our lives. And when that happens. When we can present ourselves to him, our lives can be transformed...as we hear Him say to us...Neither do I condemn you, go sin no more.

Friends, we have need to hear such words, to receive such mercy. This week, let us get to confession so that we can experience this tremendous gift and God can make all things new for us. Let us yearn to hear Jesus say to us..."Has no one condemned you? Neither do I, go sin no more."

Week 3 --- Beware! No Spectators Allowed

3rd Sunday of Lent

I'd like to begin this writing with a little exercise. I'm going to type out a couple of verbs and I'd like you to pause for a moment and listen to what these verbs trigger in your heart. What comes to your mind and what's your heart's response is. Ready? cut-down, cut-off, cut-up, cut-in, cut-into, cut-short.

OK. I'm not sure what your heart's response is, but I'm certain that such verbs evoke a response....and tap into some of your life's experience. Times when we were cut-up, or cut-off. We can relate to such verbs and so too can our Lord.

Our first response to such experiences might be anger, but we need to take it further. We need to ask WHY??? We hear such questioning today in the Gospel.
Why did the tower fall on those people? Why did the Galieans get killed? We might ask Why did the boss cut-up my idea, Why Lord Why???

"WHY?" is a great question. It gets us thinking and when we address it to the Lord, it evokes from him a response. God invites such questions and thru questions, he leads us to so much more.

We see this today with the call of Moses. The question "why?" is what led Moses to encounter the Lord. He sees the burning bush and he wonders, why is it burning but not consumed? So he moves closer. And at that moment, he hears a voice, STOP...Remove your sandals from your feet, you stand on Holy Ground.

He removes them and then he hears even more from the Lord. Moses realizes that God knows him, God is familiar with the sufferings of Israel and furthermore, God has a plan. God sees how his people are cut-off from their homeland and cut-up by the Egyptians. And not only does God have a plan, he has a name. A name to be made known to the people, remembered, respected thru the ages....

Friends, we see and hear in this reading 3 tremendous truths which we need to make our own:

#1) When faced with questions in life, we need to face them with REVERENCE and RESPECT...Moses needed to take off his sandals, well we need to take off our attitude and pride and take all our questions to the Lord. Engage him with our whys.

#2) We need to remember that God has a plan, he sees all things, he knows all things.

#3) Finally We are integral parts of His Plan, God needs us and we will be answerable to Him. We must bear fruit.

We hear St. Paul telling the Corinthians today, Do NOT BE UNAWARE, but Be aware...It's not enough to be part of the crowd. He says that most of the Israelites who followed Moses were struck down, God was not pleased with them, for they were only part of the crowd.

And so we need to take care. Take Care of ourselves and not be along for the ride in life, but take care in the Lord.

Sometimes I think that we should post signs outside of Church...BEWARE: You are entering into a holy place. God's house, God's dwelling on earth. All are welcomed, no height, no weight restrictions, but you must be changed, you must be made new, converted and bear fruit. All who enter here must leave differently.

For our Church is not a stadium or arena, we are not to just warm the seats and pulpit. Our worship is not a spectator sport....Rather, here we will be challenged, fortified, healed, changed, engaged and sent forth.

My friends, God has great expectations for each and every one of us. Thru reverence, respect, humility, and obedient love...we will realize these expectations, we will be changed so that in due time...we will become who God calls us to be.

WEEK 2

2nd Sunday of Lent

I'm not sure if you have noticed it or not, but it's beginning to stay lighter longer, these days. Have you noticed?? Despite the snow storms, the signs of spring are beginning to manifest themselves, thru greater light, the crack of basball bats and the turning of the calendar from February to March. This is good news!

And yet, March is a tough month. It's an in between time...a time for mid-term exams for college students, a time when much promise is in the air, but is not yet fully here. We are still vulnerable to winter storms and trials. March as they say comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb...and we are in the midst of that transforming period.

Aware of this, and finding ourselves in Week 2 of Lent, we may be able to relate to this tough time. Chances are you are experiencing tremendous temptations surrounding those Lenten promises that you have made. Temptations around food especially. Isn't it something? Isn't it powerful? By Week 2 of Lent, it is not uncommon for many people to have fallen prey to such temptations. We may find by now broken Lenten promises and discouraged spirits. Easter is on the way but it's still a ways off.

With this in mind, our Gospel today becomes a great gift for us. The Gospel reminds us what Lent, what our Christian lives are all about. And that is TRANSFORMATION. We find in the Gospel today, Jesus with Peter, John and James...they've climbed the high mountain with our Lord and they fall asleep while he is in prayer. But we are told that they are awakened by a revelation of God's Glory, the TRANSFIGURATION of our Lord.

My friends, we need to pray for a similar manifestation of God's grace to us. That we may be awakened, encouraged and guided. We should pray Lord, transform me, Lord shine thru me, Lord use me in these days. We must not allow our Lenten observance to stand on its own, apart from Jesus. But rather, we must stand with Jesus, seeking his amazing grace.

Abram is an example of this, having been awakened in faith, he offers sacrifice and then waits for the coming of the Lord. We do the same. Thru Baptism, we are now IN JESUS, as St. Paul tells us, our citizenship is IN HEAVEN. Therefore, as we move thru these Lenten days, we do so with and in Jesus. And that truth and knowledge alone provides powerful grace for all of us. It makes a difference and will carry us thru this new month, it will carry us thru all difficulty, it will carry us thru these Lenten Days, to the Glory of Easter.

We pray: Jesus may my whole life, all that I am and do, be in you. And there, may I be transformed to be for you and with you in all things. AMEN.

SNOW DRAGON

First Sunday of Lent

This morning in the newspaper, there was an article about a rather cool or rather "hot" invention called THE SNOW DRAGON. This machine is able to melt tons of snow...10 tons of snow an hour to be exact...in these parts of the Northeast this winter, such a machine is a gift indeed!

As I read about the "snow dragon", I thought how wonderful it would be to have a snow dragon for our hearts. To melt away all the resentments, lusts, greed, jealousies and anxieties that lurk about in the recesses of the heart. As I prayed,
I realized that we do have such a machine. It's the confessional and the season of Lent is the time to make use of this marvelous "machine"!

For many of us, we associate Lent as a time for Winter Spiritual Olympics...a time when WE do spiritual tricks, like the athletes we are watching in Vancouver. I might suggest, however, that we avoid such displays of personal heroics and allow this Lent to be a time when we allow our LORD to do HIS work IN us. A time for Jesus to be a "Snow Dragon" for us. A time when we allow our sin to melt away and be warmed up as we draw close to Jesus. Then, we wake up out of our cold winter.

Of course, such an invitation fits well with our Gospel today. For we find our Lord in a "hot climate" in the desert today, hungry, tired, alone and tempted. And it is here that he meets another type of dragon, SATAN. Jesus meets him head on and endures his wild attacks.

Friends, one of the things that this Gospel shows us is that this meeting between Jesus and Satan is real, it's not an anology, a fable or story. Satan is not just a pipe-dream...he is real! You may not have heard that recently from a catholic pulpit. But it's time to hear it and it's important for us to reflect on that today. For what happens in the Gospel today is crucial, it's real and in the temptations of Jesus we discover what Life is all about. It's a battle.

This is a good reminder, for in seeing this, we see Jesus to be who He is. And he at the root of things is Savior. He's not just a nice guy. Yeah, He's a nice guy, but He is savior. And as such He saves. He saves us. From what? From the fires of Hell. And oh, how we need that salvation.

In light of this fact, it might be helpful re-read once again, what exactly the Church teaches on HELL, i.e. what exactly Jesus saves us from. This reflection might help us in our spiritual life and warm our hearts to the love of Jesus. Let's take a look at the Catechism:

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.612 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"613 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"614

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."615 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

My friends, the Good News here is that this teaching does indeed help us to hear the CALL to CONVERSION. The Catechism describes this Call as Urgent. Lent is the time for this to happen.

Let us then, Heed the Call of our Lord. To keep our eyes on the goal and let us ask him to be our snow dragon this season, which will provide us victory over the Satan Dragon in our lives.

COMMENTS ON THE BLOG

Just a note to those who read this blog, as you can see, I've decided to use this blog as a way of sharing weekly homilies. Comments about the homilies are appreciated and read, but will not be posted or responded to on the blog itself. Should you desire to ask me a question or seek an answer to a comment that you have, I ask you to email me directly by visiting our website....www.HeedTheCall.org
I have found that responding directly to questions via email is more helpful then on the blog. Many thanks!

TWO "Rs" THAT STILL NEED LEARNING

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This past week, across the country, the Church celebrated Catholic Schools Week. Catholic Schools have been in the news a good bit locally here in Philly and the whole theme gave me a chance to remember my school days where I learned the 3 Rs -- Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. I suppose that I got by in those subjects and I learned how to read, write and add. But in reflecting on my school days and the most valuable subjects to me, I discovered 2 more Rs which I never had a class in, but which to me mean the most in my life. They are REVERENCE and RESPECT.

While the other Rs no doubt are important in life, with REVERENCE and RESPECT forget it. Our lives would not get very far, indeed would not mean much at all. Without these reverence and repect, we would be just big babies, unruly children in grown up skin...and that my friends is a grim possibility.

My friends, it is these two subjects which we discover in our readings today and which shine so brightly for us. And thus, are worthy of some reflection.

We find in the first reading, the prophet Isaiah receiving his call from the Lord. We are told that he is caught up in an encounter with God: the temple is filled with incense, and he is quite overwhelmed by the sight. His first response is that of reverence, clearly he is in the presence of the holy, holy, holy Lord, who is worthy of his respect and honor. He feels unworthy, but receives that touch of the Lord, a call that would change his life forever.

We see something similar in the Gospel as well. First we hear that the crowd is "pressing in on Jesus, listening to his Word". Isn't that beautiful?? Would that we would do the same, press in on the Lord to hear his Word. That's reverence and respect at work. But there's still more!

Our Lord goes over to the rough and tough fishermen. He tells them to "put out to the deep and lower your nets for a catch". At first, there is some resistance: "Lord, we've been at it all night". But then in a beautiful act of humilty they lower their nets. Alot more was lowered that night besides nets, they lowered their pride which yielded to reverence and respect. Then, there is a great catch of fish and even better a great catch of men, as Jesus "catches" the Apostles. Their response is one of humility and reverence and they heed the call of Jesus, "they left it all and followed him."

My friends, it seems to me that in our highly educated and sophisticated society today, we have lost a lot of reverence and repect. Oh, we may know how to read and write, but without reverence and respect, we are all in trouble. These gifts really do open the gates for true wisdom and life. For when I have reverence and respect for the Lord, for others present in my heart, then I have Love and Love is God. And this is the greatest gift of all.

We might ask ourselves then, What do I reverence in my life. We might even pray...
Lord, give me a reverent heart, a heart on fire with Love for you, not on fire with anger, lust and pride. Teach me Lord to lower the nets of my pride which tangle me up over and over again. Give me Lord the grace to hold you as sacred in my heart, that I may love you, revere you and become like you.

God will answer such a prayer as this, he will teach us, he will give us these 2 great virtues and we like the apostles and Isaiah will never be the same again.

Receiving God's Perspective

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here in cold Philadelphia, the hope of SPRING is in the air. Pitchers and Catchers report in less than a month, and Spring Training will soon begin! Just as we can find hope in baseball and we continue to find hope in the priesthood as the Year of the Priest marches onward, and what a beautiful year it has been as we have reflected on the simple yet powerful life of St. John Vianney, patron saint of all priests!

Today's readings offer a similar hope for vocations as we hear of the Call of Jeremiah, the Call of St. Paul to Love and the profession of Jesus Himself, as the fulfillment of all that has been. Great hope indeed, which carries with it, a few powerful lessons.

Lesson #1) Get God's perspective. Automatically in life we have our own perspective. This is natural, how we see things and our perspective can be quite good, accurate and truthful. But our perspective is always finite, always limited. Whether we are sitting in the front row behind home-plate or up in the nosebleed seats, our perspective is never the full or complete. And we are reminded of that today, in the Call of Jeremiah.

We hear of Jeremiah's call in the Old Testament, but notice well that we do not hear from Jeremiah, it's all about the Lord and his plan, his view, his thoughts of Jeremiah. Isn't that interesting?? Isn't that wonderful?? To hear how God sees and thinks of Jeremiah!!! Well the Lord sees and thinks about us as well. And what a gift it is to hear that from the Lord. To get his perspective on our lives, on our call, on our families and situations, etc. Very Interesting. Good News.

We hear of God's perspective also in the Gospel today, as Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of all that has been. And the people are excited as they hear from the Lord, but almost immediately, they fall back onto their own perspective and by the end of the Gospel, they are ready to kill Jesus. They become full of self doubt, full of their limited perspective.

Of course, the same thing can happen to us. We can fall back on our own way of thinking and really quite quickly we can lose hope. Our remedy is not just accepting God's perspective but accepting the Lord himself, who as St. Paul reminds us today, is LOVE. Love is the person of Jesus, and is both the source and the foundation of our vocation. To trust in the Love of God for us, to embrace his perspective and to receive his love, as Jeremiah did, as our Lord did. To trust in God's love for us, this is both our vocation and our salvation. Such Good News!

The challenge is to receive his perspective, his love and then to mature in it as St. Paul did. He who used to think like a child, speak like a child, act like a child, grew mature in love. And so too must we.

So today, let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to receive his perspective on our lives, let's ask the Lord what he sees and thinks, and let us mature in that vision, in that way of life, in the way of love. In this way, we will discover our vocation.

LIVING LIFE WELL

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Before any words are said in this homily, we take a moment to call to mind the tragedy that continues to unfold at this moment in Haiti. It should be on our minds as we celebrate this Eucharist and each one of us from the youngest person here to the oldest, should right now lift up a prayer to the Lord for the people involved.

While we cannot do much, the Gospel tonight is a stark reminder to us, of the power of intercession. As Mary turned to Jesus and said, "They have no more wine.", we too can turn to Jesus and tell him about the people of Haiti, perhaps we can even tell Mary and Mary as she did in Cana will tell Jesus.

Next week, the collection will go toward the victims of Haiti, we will send the monies to Catholic Relief Services who are on the ground as we speak.

The Haiti earthquake this week, gives all of us cause to pause and to consider the fragility of our lives. While we do not live in a 3rd world country, our lives are just as fragile and just as vulnerable, if not to earthquakes, to cancer, sickness, sufferring and all of us of course subject to death.

In considering this, how important it is that we live life well. We hear a lot about wellness at this time of year, the gyms and health clubs are crowded, we all look toward being well at the start of the new year, with good intentions. But when we look twice at things, we come to see that at the end of the day, living well means that we have loved well. That in our lives we have had a beautiful experience of being love and sharing love with others. Is that not what it all comes down to??
The well life is the life of love.

Such imagery of love is all over the sciptures today. The first reading speaks of spousal love, the Gospel is the Wedding Feast of Cana, and Paul is gearing us up here in Corinthians for the greatest gift of all, the gift of Love. Without which we have nothing at all.

The challenge of course is to remain in love and to not allow our love to grow dull.
That's the human tendency and that is our challenge. For the Lord, as he demonstrates in the Gospel today, is always about New Things. Our love should be growing more and more new, more and more fervent, or else our love runs the risk of not being love at all.

So let us not be drunk on the old wine, or filled with the false fillers-- false foods that do not satisfy, but let us each and every day...make it a conscious choice to love. For if we do not have love we are nothing at all. But with love, each and everyone of us will be well.

A Green that Does Not Disappoint

January 10, 2010
Baptism of the Lord

Last Evening, two seasons came to an end. The season finale of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Season Finale of the Christmas Season as celebrated in the Church.
Thanks be to God, the endings could not be more different.

The Eagles ending leaves us with great uncertainty, doubts and questions. But the Christmas ending leaves us filled with confident hope, with tremendous certainty as we proclaim that GOD IS WITH US and HE WILL REMAIN WITH US FOREVER. What began in Bethlehem, continues to this day...and therefore, we are no longer alone, we have a Savior....and His Life continues with us to this day.

Today, as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, we celebrate a Feast that ushers us into not a post-season, or an off-season, but really THE SEASON of Life and grace in Christ. Life with Christ thru the Christmas Mysetery and thru His Baptism and ours.

We have a great scene in today's Gospel of Luke, where we see Jesus and his friends hanging out by the Jordan River. We believe that at this point, Jesus is a young man, about 30 years old and we find him there with his friends! They are not only hanging out by the Jordan but together they are being Baptized and then we hear that beautiful Word of the Father....that this one who looks like all the rest..."This one,here, is my beloved Son, on whom my favor rest."

My friends, how fortunate we are to share in the baptism of the Lord, and to be baptized in Him. By this mystery we are indeed his children, filled with grace and united in the Lord. This is tremendously good news...for now we are part not only of our human family, but God's family, the Church and as such we have a tremendous place, tremendous hope. This feast reminds us of who we are, of the ongoing gift of Christmas and of Baptism in Jesus.

So, in a time of year that can be difficult, when we are taking down the decorations, paying the bills from Christmas, and shedding the green. The Church reminds us of the green that never fades...the hope that Christmas and Baptism bring to each one of us. I would invite you this week, to remember that fact that you are baptized. Ask the waters of your baptism to drown out the lusts, the pride, the anxieties that can fill your heart and ask those same waters to bring to life the spring of hope...the Life of Christ within you.

This is the gift that we are invited to receive, and as the world sheds it's greens this week, we will be wearing the "green of Christ", a green and hope that never disappoints!

STAR POWER

January 3, 2010
Feast of the Epiphany

From perhaps the beginning of time, human beings have been and still are attracted by the stars. Of course there are various types of stars.

There are those in the heavens like the North star, the sun itself is a star. Such stars provide not just beauty and light, but guidance and direction. They were the original GPSss! How important are those heavenly stars.

Another type of star, are the one that are on the ground. Human stars...men and women who excel in their field, the outliers, the rich and the famous. And we all know and have those type of stars. What a power they have, men and women, teams or brands that have tremendous respect, talent and appeal. No doubt, even those type of stars have great power over us.

Finally, there are the stars that lie within each and everyone of us. The stars of hopes, dreams, goals, and calls that lie within...and which we all have. To be the 5 star dad, or priest, to be the best or brightest on the block or at work.

Whatever the type of star, all stars have tremendous power, appeal and all stars give direction. Stars help us look up and out of ourself...star-power is indeed great.

Today, on this Feast of the 3 Kings, Epiphany...we are told of course of the star that led these wise men. This was not just any star, but this was the star prophesied and long ago spoken of in Israel. The star that would rise over Bethlehem, foreshadowing the newborn King, and that would draw all peoples to Him.

These wise men had been looking for this star, and it was as though their whole life had been wrapped up in this star. They had banked their life on it. And when they finally spotted it, they followed. And thus, they found, the one they had been looking for, not a star Himself, but Jesus, the Savior.

We are told that they found him and worshiped. They gave him their gifts, their very livelihood, they gave him their all. And then, we are told that they went home differently. How true! They went home not just along a different way, geographically, but different totally, for they had seen Jesus and their lives were changed forever.

My friends, this beautiful feast invites us, in this New Year to do the same, that is, to encounter Jesus. And this feast shows us how that meeting can take place.

This feast invites us to take a look at the stars that have power in our lives. For some of us it might be the star on the side of a football helment which we will be watching later today! The Dallas Cowboys! What power is in that star...a new mega-stadium, a team that will have two huge cities talking for the rest of the week!

Maybe the star power in our lives may come from human stars. How many people I have spoken with the past month, sharing their disappointment in Tiger Woods...again the power of a star.

Or maybe the star power in our lives may come from the more subtle stars that lie within, that we worship...i.e. perfectionism, materialism, individualism.

Today's feast reminds us that stars are good, they lead us, draw us out of ourselves and attract us. But we need to be aware of how they do this. We need WISDOM, the wisdom of the wise men...to worship not the star but the one who created them, and who created us. Jesus...the one whom we worhsip, the one we live for and die for and spend our lives for. Jesus, the one who rises above every star!

My friends, this week, let us do 3 things....#1) let us Thank God for the stars in our lives, what gifts they are that we have been given! #2) Let us be aware of what these stars are and how they draw us, i.e. their power over us. #3) Let us worship the one who created all of them. In this way our lives will be different, we will possess the wisdom of the Wise Men. Our week will be different, our lives will be different and like the wise men, we will find the fulfillment that truly satisfies. We will find Jesus, our all in all.

Mary, the Gift of God's Love.

January 1, 2010
Mary, Mother of God

With one stroke of a second hand, we began a new year, a new day, a new decade, early this morning. Perhaps you saw it.

As a Church, of course, we recognize this new year, we have new calendars for you all today, we wish you a blessed year, and in the readings today we hear words of blessing. But we recogize too that we celebrate this day, in the context of Christmas, which reminds us that there is something far greater, far new-er, than a new year or decade which we celebrate.

Indeed, there is Jesus, Baby Jesus who is still new, still a new born, just one week old this day, still in need of love, still inviting us to be with him, to be like him, to be Love.

Now, if we are to accept this invitation, if we are to love Jesus, it takes both grace and guts. It takes grace and decision. Following Jesus is not like a New Year's Resolution that we make and break. It is a relationship...and if we want this relationship to be real, if we want it to grow and flourish, we need Mary.

Mary is the first one to follow Jesus. She is the one who spent the most time with him, who knows him best. She taught him how to walk, eat, grow and love. And she can teach us the same thing....so that Jesus may truly grow within us, and we may grow in Him.

And so, as we begin this New Year, we do so realizing that just as there is nothing about the passing of time, there is nothing magic about our faith. It comes down to love...it comes down to choosing to love the one who is now with us, Jesus.

On this first day of the year, let us do just that with Mary. Let us get to know Mary, who will help us to love and grow in love with Jesus. In this way, our relationship with Jesus will in fact grow and flourish throuhgout the year. Let us praise God for Mary!