{"id":75168,"date":"2011-12-30T10:45:18","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T15:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=75168"},"modified":"2011-12-30T10:45:18","modified_gmt":"2011-12-30T15:45:18","slug":"homily-for-january-1-2012-solemnity-of-mary-the-mother-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/12\/homily-for-january-1-2012-solemnity-of-mary-the-mother-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily for January 1, 2012: Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

[Click here for readings]<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A lot of us had our travel interrupted over the holidays \u2013 flight delays, cancellations, weather problems.\u00a0 But none, I think, can compare with the story of Msgr. Steve Rossetti.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Msgr. Rossetti is a priest from the Diocese of Syracuse.\u00a0 He teaches at Catholic University but every couple years, he goes down to Antarctica for a few weeks to serve as a chaplain to the researchers and personnel working at the South Pole.\u00a0 This year, he went down in late November.\u00a0 But shortly after he arrived, a storm moved in.\u00a0 It became impossible for him to leave.<\/p>\n

Instead of spending Christmas with family and friends, quaffing eggnog and unwrapping gifts in front of the fireplace, Msgr. Rossetti was at a research facility at the bottom of the earth, wearing a heavy parka, and leading a flock that included countless penguins just outside his door.<\/p>\n

He blogged about his experience for CNN, and had this to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne could see this storm as a random event and my being weathered in at the South Pole simply as an act of nature,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut for the first time, a chaplain will be here on Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of the Son of God. I cannot plan it; I can only accept whatever comes. Each day, we will look out and see what has been planned for us.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this the case for each of our lives?\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of us would have been angered, or even depressed, at having our Christmas plans changed.\u00a0 But Msgr. Rossetti saw a lesson there \u2013 and one, I think, that couldn\u2019t be more timely.\u00a0 One of the fundamental truths of the Nativity story \u2013 and something we encounter in the readings today \u2013 is not just the idea of life beginning\u2026but of life interrupted.<\/p>\n

The Nativity is also a story of plans being changed, of destinies being rewritten.<\/p>\n

Of human history being altered forever.<\/p>\n

The shepherds watching their flock on that silent night had no idea the silence would be broken, and the world shaken, by the arrival of angels.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t expect the news they heard, or the journey took, or what they finally encountered in Bethlehem: the savior of the world, coming to us as a baby, in a manger.<\/p>\n

Life happens.\u00a0 Plans change.\u00a0 And our world is turned upside down.<\/p>\n

One morning, a young girl in an anonymous village in a forgotten corner of Galilee woke up to begin her day \u2013 to do her chores or say her prayers.\u00a0 She could not have imagined how her life, her future, her plans, would change \u2013 how her day would be different than any other since the dawn of time, how the months and years that followed would take her places she never dreamed.\u00a0 To motherhood.\u00a0 To Bethlehem. To Egypt.\u00a0 To Calvary.<\/p>\n

The girl who woke up in Nazareth on that morning nine months before could not have imagined what was in store: \u00a0that she was about to become the most important woman in human history \u2013 the woman we honor this Sunday as the Mother of God.<\/p>\n

But, of course: life happens.\u00a0 Plans change.\u00a0 And God intervenes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This day, New Year\u2019s, is about making plans.\u00a0 We draw up lists and jot down resolutions.\u00a0 But how often do they go unfulfilled? \u00a0How many resolutions that we make today will be forgotten by February?\u00a0\u00a0 We may hope to arrive at some particular destination, to achieve some goal, by next December 31st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

But so often, God has something else in mind.<\/p>\n

Just ask the shepherds.\u00a0 Ask Mary, the Mother of God.<\/p>\n

As the old Yiddish saying goes: if you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans.<\/p>\n

We so often find ourselves where we never expected \u2014 accompanied by holy laughter.<\/p>\n

It may be that some of you never expected to find yourself here, in this church, this day.<\/p>\n

But here you are.\u00a0 Making another stop on a lifelong journey.<\/p>\n

Just before Christmas, after mass, a woman stopped me outside of church.\u00a0 She\u2019d heard me mention RCIA in my homily.\u00a0 She told me she was Catholic but had been away for a long time.\u00a0 She asked me: should she sign up for RCIA?\u00a0 Is there some special group she needs to join?<\/p>\n

I asked if she\u2019d received all her sacraments \u2013 baptism, first communion, confirmation.\u00a0 She told me yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell then,\u201d I said, \u201cYou\u2019re already here.\u00a0 Welcome home.\u201d\u00a0 She told me that her brother had been pleading with her to go back to the church.\u00a0 She promised him, that this year, she would.\u00a0 That Sunday was her first time at Mass in years.<\/p>\n

I asked her if she\u2019d been to confession, and suggested some places she could go.\u00a0 \u201cCome back soon,\u201d I told her.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve missed you!\u201d<\/p>\n

And so this day, I want to say that to anyone here who may be making a similar journey.<\/p>\n

Welcome back.\u00a0 We\u2019ve missed you.<\/p>\n

I know, from my own experience: life\u2019s road is often crooked.\u00a0 Sometimes, the path wanders. We might drift from the practice of the faith, or think it\u2019s inconsequential, or decide it\u2019s just not relevant.<\/p>\n

But when we think that way, we are wrong.\u00a0 Believe me.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 \u00a0Our lives are enriched, strengthened, sanctified by being in this sacred place and receiving the sacraments \u2014 most of all, the Eucharist. \u00a0\u00a0Dorothy Day, who was received into the Catholic Church 84 years ago this week, once wrote: \u00a0\u201cFeeding at that table \u2013 the altar \u2014 has nourished my soul so that there is life in it.\u201d\u00a0 It is life we all crave.\u00a0 And it is here, waiting for us, along with God\u2019s tender mercies.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re looking for resolutions worth keeping this new year, let me make it simple for you.\u00a0 Resolve to make going to Mass, going to church, a habit \u2013 not just once or twice a year.\u00a0 But every week.\u00a0 Resolve to pray, every day \u2013 and not just to ask God for a favor.\u00a0 Resolve to make your life a conversation with God. To listen to what He has to say to you.\u00a0 \u00a0To be reconciled to Him. \u00a0Resolve to go to confession.\u00a0 To receive the Eucharist.\u00a0 To commit to this moment, this hour, one day a week.<\/p>\n

Resolve to grow in grace.<\/p>\n

Resolve to live the life that God has dreamed for you.<\/p>\n

You may be surprised at what will happen.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it may not be what you had expected.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, as Msgr. Rossetti found, it can even take you to the bottom of the world.<\/p>\n

But know this: God won\u2019t leave you there alone.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t believe me, just remember the woman He chose to bear His son, and who became the Mother of God.<\/p>\n

Through every struggle, every pitfall, every pilgrimage, He was with her.\u00a0 Through every sorrow, every joy, every setback, every heartbreak, God never abandoned her.<\/p>\n

Her journey was never solitary.\u00a0 She was never alone.<\/p>\n

And neither are we.<\/p>\n

Remember that this day, as we begin a new year, and tear another page off the calendar, and start anew.\u00a0 There is no better time than here and now to make of our lives something fresh, and wondrous, and even holy.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t always easy, and the journey isn\u2019t always smooth.\u00a0 There may be delays and setbacks, diversions and detours.<\/p>\n

As Msgr. Rossetti discovered: sometimes God changes our itinerary.<\/p>\n

But we all hope to arrive at the same destination.<\/p>\n

We all hope and pray that we may one day \u2014 like the shepherds and like Mary \u2013 gaze upon the face of God.<\/p>\n

Image above: \u201cThe Adoration of the Shepherds\u201d by James Tissot<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click here for readings] A lot of us had our travel interrupted over the holidays \u2013 flight delays, cancellations, weather problems.\u00a0 But none, I think, can compare with the story of Msgr. Steve Rossetti. Msgr. Rossetti is a priest from the Diocese of Syracuse.\u00a0 He teaches at Catholic University but every couple years, he goes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-mary"],"yoast_head":"\nHomily for January 1, 2012: Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A lot of us had our travel interrupted over the holidays \u2013 flight delays, cancellations, weather problems.\u00a0 But none, I think, can compare with the story\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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