Trust the plan - We don’t have to “see” where we are going - We just have to keep going!

Today the Universal Church commemorates the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God……We are told in the Gospel today that at the birth of Jesus, Mary…..”kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart…..While Mary was born pure…She did not understand everything…But Mary trusted……And make no mistake about it….The life of the Holy family was not easy…..They were refugees in Egypt and once they settled in Nazareth - They lived what we would call a “blue collar” existence - I am sure money was “tight” but they had each other - The entire time, Mary trusted and took life as it came to her…..She did not have to understand everything - She simply trusted…..Today begins a New Year…No one knows what this year will bring to us…But like Our Mother Mary, we must trust….That God in his infinite wisdom and providence will continue to fulfill his plan of salvation for the world - His way not our way…..This morning I was scrolling through the news….Our world is in so much chaos….I thought to myself…When is Christ going to return?…..Only God knows - But in the mean time - I must trust in God’s plan…Come “hell or high water”…..Nothing that happens is out of the control of God….And all things work towards a great good, even when we can not see it…….In the Book of Isaiah we read that…”I will lead the blind on a way they do not know by paths they do not know I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These are my promises: I made them, I will not forsake them”…Whenever I think all is lost, that the world is hopeless, I always think of this line from Isaiah, the great prophet of the Old Testament…Nothing broken cannot be fixed by God….And frankly only God can fix it….Again, it comes down to trust….As Mary our mother trusted, so must we….God has a plan and we are simply just a small part of that plan…That means we cannot “fix” the mess we see around us…But it does mean we have something to do - We don’t “get off the hook so easy” as we say in New Jersey…We each have something to do - Something that God will use for the great good…That means YOU & ME!….But the “heavy lifting” belongs to God…And like Our Lady in today’s Gospel written by St Luke…She simply did her part……and “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart”……Our Lady was not the solution - And she knew it……She gave birth to the solution…..and committed her life to it……..How about us?…Let’s simply do our best and do our part.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son”

When one reads history, patterns emerge….We see how God works in and through the actions of mankind but as events take place, we can not see as God sees, especially in real time….When the will of mankind refuses to bend - God permits events to “help us out” - To bend our will….Why? - Because God loves us ands while we at times may be “uncomfortable” or thing don’t go as we would like or planned - God is working on us…Shaping us…Transforming us…..That is how we become a Holy People…..As students of history, we may look at what is happening to Western Civilization right now…How it is being literally dismantled by its ruling class….Under the guise of “climate change”, which has become a false religion to some and to others, its simply a tool to grab power….In the process our cities are falling apart……..the middle class is disappearing…..all of this is being done intentionally and is happening right before our eyes….How can God work out his plan through all this?…….Just as the Jewish people of the Old Testament suffered, it was through that suffering, that miraculously their eyes were opened once again to God…Maybe - Just Maybe…..Because we are a “stiff-necked people”….God in his infinite mercy is allowing all we see to happen - Which in turn will “open the eyes of the blind” once again and turn hearts back to God…..Speaking personally, that is what I think is happening…But as it’s happening, I often think to myself…”But why do “I” have to suffer God?”….”I get it”…..But do I “get it”?…….In my hubris, I forget that I too am a work in progress…God is shaping me and my family as well….And he uses many “tools” to do it…..Being “comfortable” is not always part of the equation sadly - Why? - Because we are a “stiff necked people”…This is how we must think and in doing so, we can have peace even amongst chaos….That everything we see around us is working towards a great good…That heaven is our true home….That God allows everything we see to happen to “open the eyes of the blind” - For their own good…Why?….Because heaven is forever but so is hell…..And God does not want anyone in hell….But when his people don’t listen to him and we create our own hell here on earth…God has to step in…..Let us trust him as our heavenly Mother trusted him.

“As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”

Today in the Gospel of St Luke read to us at Mass…We hear that Our Lady did not understand everything, she simply trusted in the one that did…And so must we - That is my “take away” from the Gospel today…..We don’t have to “see” everything In front of us…We simply have to take one step at a time - As may father would say to me often - “Straight ahead”…..Years ago, I would help a friend of mine who was blind go to our Saturday Bible Study at our church……Jim taught me a lot…He would place his hand upon my shoulder and walk behind me…He never knew where we were going - He simply trusted me - That I would get him to his seat….Many times as I was guiding Jim to his seat - I thought to myself - This is how I must be…I don’t realize just “how blind” I am……..I MUST simply trust in God - Who is the only one we “sees” and simply place my hand on His shoulder and allow Him to guide me to where I need to go…Jim would do this with such peace of mind…I always marveled at his courage and trust…..Being that today is the first day of the year…Maybe a good prayer for today could be….”God - Help me to trust you…Thy will be done! - You know the way - I do not”….That prayer sounds crazy in a way…but if we say it from the heart….A huge weight will be lifted…..And like my old friend Jim - “We will find our seat” despite being blind….Trust the plan - We don’t have to “see” where we are going - We just have to keep going!………….JMJ