Sunday Inbox Inspirations
New Year’s Day – Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God
January 1, 2023
“We don’t have time…”
One of our classic American plays is Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I remember reading it when I was in high school.
In this play, a young woman dies and is then allowed by God to return to earth to re-live just one day of her life. The day she chooses is her twelfth birthday.
A few hours into the day she cries out: “I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast.
“We don’t have time to look at one another. Oh earth, you’re too beautiful for anyone to realize.”
Then, with tears in her eyes, she asks, “Do human beings ever realize life as they live it?” And a voice answers her, “No! The saints and poets maybe – they do sometimes.”
New Year’s: A Moment in Time
I find that excerpt from Our Town very appropriate as we celebrate New Year’s Day.
The woman says, “We don’t have time” – time to treasure the gift of life. New Year’s is a special day because it marks the beginning of another major segment of time in our lives – a new year.
The plea of the woman in Our Town is intended to awaken us to the time and life that we have. In similar way, the woman in today’s gospel – Mary – awakens us to how we are to live the time that we have.
Saint Luke depicts Mary at the manger in Bethlehem and says that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” So, Mary is reflective.
This doesn’t mean that she just sat around and meditated all the time. I have to imagine that Mary was as active and as busy as other young women of her day – helping her parents with preparing meals and getting water from the town well and washing clothes and on it went.
And, of course, then Mary was very taken up with her pregnancy and giving birth to Jesus. But in the midst of all of this, Saint Luke describes her as reflective.
She comes across as quietly taking in and praying about what was going on in her life. I suggest that Mary’s reflective, prayerful approach leads us in some helpful directions as we begin a new year.
Mary: Past, Present, Future
First, Mary leads us to appreciate our past. For many of us, the past has probably been a mix of some joy and sadness, some satisfaction and disappointment, some good health and some illness.
Mary calls us to see how God has been with us even in troubled and confusing times, like she herself experienced. Her reflective spirit moves us to appreciate the past and God’s sustaining presence with us.
Then, Mary also leads us to value the present. She moves us to treasure the gift of life, whether it is the life of an unborn child or simply this very day of living.
Mary calls us to discern God’s will for us right now in the guidance given by a parent or a teacher or the inspired Word of God, as she herself discerned in the words of the angel. Her reflective spirit moves us to value the present and God’s presence with us right now.
And finally, Mary leads us to greet the future. Because Mary trusted God’s calling, she moved forward in becoming the mother of Jesus, the mother of God’s Son and, in that sense, the mother of God.
Mary calls us to trust in God as we decide to get married or take a new job or go to a new school or whatever. Her reflective spirit moves us to greet the future, to greet 2023, and God’s continued presence.
Conclusion
So, the woman in Our Town asks, “Do human beings ever realize life while they live it?”
And the woman who brings God’s Son into the world, Mary, shows us how to treasure life while we live it. Her reflective spirit led her and now leads us to appreciate the past, to value the present, and to greet the future – all with an awareness of God’s loving presence.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
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