A Blessing for the New Year
How do you usually begin a new year? With hopes, resolutions, or perhaps anxiety about what lies ahead? Many of us step into January carrying both desire and uncertainty in our hearts. On this first day of the year, rather than offering us snappy advice or strategies for a good New Year start, the Church offers us something better: a blessing. As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God on January 1st, God starts the year by blessing us, his beloved children.
The word “blessing” comes from the Latin benedire, meaning “to say good things.” In the Book of Numbers, God tells Moses and Aaron to speak good things over the people of Israel: that the Lord would protect them, look kindly upon them, and give them peace. This blessing reveals God’s deepest desire: good relationship together. God wants to be close to his people.
God desires good things for us
God speaks that same blessing over us today. He wants us to begin the new year not merely with resolutions or self-improvement plans, but by turning our hearts toward him. Through Jesus who was born of Mary, God blesses us fully. Indeed, we are not condemned or judged; we are adopted as beloved sons and daughters. God desires good things for us: justice, mercy, peace, hope, and freedom from fear.
Mary, our tender mother and powerful intercessor
In the Gospel, Mary treasures in her heart the good news that the Shepherds bring when they visit the manger. As the Mother of God and our mother, Mary is our great intercessor. We can turn to her with confidence, placing our needs, wounds, and hopes in her hands and asking her to bring them to her Son. (She did so at the wedding in Cana, and she delights to do it for us now.)
Where are you longing for God to say good things to you?
When we invite God into our lives especially into places of pain, loneliness, or unworthiness he meets us there with tenderness and compassion. Where are you longing for God’s blessing this year? Consider entrusting that place to Mary and allowing her to lead you to Jesus so you can hear God speaking His tender blessings over you.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
