Mary, Mother of God.  January 1, 2008.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15 and 9:00.   Numbers 6:22-27. Galatians 4: 4-7.  Luke 2: 16-21.

Billy wanted a new bike for Christmas.  He not only told Santa Claus that he wanted a bike along with the particular kind of bike that he wanted, he also knelt by the side of his bed and told Jesus about the bike – and just to make sure – he told his parents, his grandparents, and almost everyone that he met that he wanted a new bike for Christmas.  When it was announced on Christmas Eve that Santa had come and gone Billy went barreling into the living room.  Tucked behind the Christmas tree was the new bike that he had been dreaming about for months.   Billy moved the bike into the middle of the room.  He grabbed his three year old little sister and lifted her onto the seat of his new bike. Billy said to his sister, “I want you to be the very first person to ride on my new bike, even before I do.!”   Having gifts is never enough.  What we do with our gifts is most important.

Our life is a gift from God.  Some of us will live a long time and some of us will live a short time.  This morning (or yesterday) I was at the funeral of Fr. Tom Briochi who was associate pastor at Our Lady of Grace for several years.  I have been a priest twice as long as he had been.  No one knows how many years he or she has been given in God’s loving plan.  All we know is that what we do with the years we have, few or many, will make all the difference.  The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and the unconditional love that Jesus poured out for us on the Cross is a pure gift from God. We can do nothing to earn God’s love.  What each of us does with the gift of God’s love and grace in the New Year will be different for each of us.   Having a good mind is worth little if we don’t use the intelligence God has given us.  Athletic talents or musical skills are of no value if we don’t work to develop them.  The basic gifts and talents we have come to us free and unearned.  What we do with them may cost us a lot.  The most important factor in making 2008 a good year revolves around the choices we make in using the grace and the gifts God gives us.

The book, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens begins with these words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.”    The year 2008 is much the same.  Every year is much the same.  The only difference is in the choices we make in using the gift of time.

The Christmas story is not only filled with Christ and filled with grace; the Christmas story is also filled with people.  Grace alone or Christ alone would not be the story of Christmas. All the people in the story make Christmas happen.  Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men, inn keepers, and King Herod all had to involve themselves in the Christmas story to make it happen. The Christmas story does not become real until flesh and blood people chose to make it a part of their lives. Even today the Christmas story exists only in the Bible or in pictures until we make the choice to get involved in the story.   What good is the Christmas story or the coming of Jesus unless Christmas truly becomes a part of our lives?

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.   If Mary had only observed the story or just enjoyed it, the Christmas story would never have happened.  Mary chose to enter into the Christmas story so completely that Jesus who is truly God became her son, and because her son is God, she truly became the Mother of God. Today’s gospel says that “Mary kept all of these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  Mary was not only a primary character or actor in the Christmas story, Mary let the Christmas story fill her heart.   Everything about Mary changed because of the way that she held Jesus in her heart, not only while pregnant with him or when he was a little child.  Mary made a conscious choice to fill her heart with Jesus always.  The choice to give her heart to Christ changed every moment of her life.  Mary teaches us that the beginning of a New Year is important and powerful when we make the conscious choice to fill our hearts with Christ. Happy New Years don’t just happen because the calendar changes. The gift of a new year is important and powerful when we act from Christ filled hearts and bring the peace and joy of Jesus to the world.  This New Year is a gift from God.  What this New Year will become depends on how deeply we involve ourselves in the Christmas story. The choices we make will make the New Year significant and happy – truly The Year of Our Lord 2008.  For this New Year we give God thanks and praise.