“Believe me, there is no more powerful means to obtain God’s grace than to employ the intercessions of the Holy Virgin.”

If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon our Lady, just say this simple prayer: 'Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.' I must admit, this prayer has never failed me.
- Blessed Mother Teresa

Gospel Text: (LK 2:16-21)

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,

and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this,

they made known the message

that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed

by what had been told them by the shepherds.

And Mary kept all these things,

reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God

for all they had heard and seen,

just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,

he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel

before he was conceived in the womb.

Life happens.  Plans change.  And our world is turned upside down.

One morning, a young girl in an anonymous village in a forgotten corner of Galilee woke up to begin her day – to do her chores or say her prayers.  She could not have imagined how her life, her future, her plans, would change – 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.  To motherhood.  To Bethlehem. To Egypt.  To Calvary.

The girl who woke up in Nazareth on that morning nine months before could not have imagined what was in store:  that she was about to become the most important woman in human history – the woman we honor this day as the Mother of God.

But, of course: life happens.  Plans change.  And God intervenes.

This day, New Year’s, is about making plans.  We draw up lists and jot down resolutions.  But how often do they go unfulfilled?  How many resolutions that we make today will be forgotten by February?   We may hope to arrive at some particular destination, to achieve some goal, by next December 31^st.

But so often, God has something else in mind.

Just ask the shepherds.  Ask Mary, the Mother of God.