The Word of God Speaks - Are We Listening?

Here's my homily for my first Sunday as pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate - bit of an introduction to who I am, and some thoughts on the Bible and prayer :)  

Location: Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Luxemburg, IA) – 4 p.m. Saturday

                Saint Joseph Catholic Church (Rickardsville, IA) – 6 p.m. Saturday

                Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church (Sherrill, IA) – 8 a.m. Sunday

                Holy Cross Catholic Church (Holy Cross, IA) – 10 a.m. Sunday

Date: Sunday July 13^th, 2014 (15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Isaiah 55:10-11

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14

2^nd Reading: Romans 8:18-23

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23 (OR Matthew 13:1-9 {short form})

FOCUS: A good way to prepare for Mass is to read the readings before you come. 

FUNCTION: Engage in opportunities for spiritual growth like lectio divina.

          It’s a privilege to be here this weekend as your new pastor :)  This is an exciting opportunity for me, especially since I’m a brand-new pastor.  I’m pretty sure both Fr. Ray and Fr. Jose were both pastors before they were assigned as pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate.  So, you get to put up with a priest who’s still learning the ropes :)  Please be patient with me. :)  As I’m sure some of you are wondering, my last name is simply pronounced “Diehm” – one syllable.  It’s not “Di-ehm” or “Dime” or “De-ham” – just “Diehm,” one syllable.  And whereas the previous two priests both went by their first names, my preference is to go by my last name – so I prefer to be called “Fr. Diehm” rather than “Fr. Noah.”  Maybe it sounds a little formal, but you’ll soon discover I’m really not a terrible formal person, except when I need to be. 

          Before I talk about the great readings we have this weekend, I thought I’d take the time to introduce myself.  I was born and raised in Dubuque, and my parents still live there.  I was involved in Catholic education practically all my life – grade school, high school, college, and of course seminary.  After my four years of college at Clarke in Dubuque, I was in seminary for five years – I spent one year at Loras College (Iowa’s premiere Catholic college (: ) with the St. Pius X college seminary program, and then spent the next four years in southern Indiana at the Saint Meinrad Seminary & School of Theology, where I was trained predominately by the Benedictine monks of the Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Saint Meinrad, IN.          

While I was getting my M. Div. (or Masters of Divinity, a ministerial degree that all priests have in one form or another), I was ordained a transitional deacon (which is the step immediately before being ordained a priest) on April 10^th, 2010 and was then ordained a priest three years ago on June 25^th, 2011 at the age of 27.  And I recently celebrated a birthday this past Tuesday (move day), and I’m now a very happy 31 year-old priest and your new pastor :)

          My appointment from the Archbishop as pastor is for a six-year term, with the possibility of being renewed once.  So, I look forward to spending at least six, if not twelve years with you here as Pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate and Pastoral Coordinator of LaSalle Catholic Schools.  You’ve been forewarned J  And during my time here, I look forward to visiting with many of you when you invite me to your house for supper (FYI – that’s a not-so-subtle suggestion (: ), or while having coffee with some of you after daily Mass, which I’ve been able to do this past week in Sherrill, Luxemburg, and Holy Cross.

          I’m a big fan of film and music.  I enjoy watching and playing basketball, although I haven’t played much basketball since I left seminary.  I’m an extrovert, but I’m usually ready to not see or talk to anybody after about 8:30 or 9 o’clock at night.  I plan to work hard in this assignment as your pastor, and I hope to be surrounded by other hard-working Catholics.  You’ll get to know me better once I’ve been here a little longer, and I look forward to building the kingdom of God here in our pastorate during my time as pastor :)

          Now for a few thoughts on the Sunday readings :)  I think the readings this weekend challenge us to think about how we receive (or fail to receive) God’s word spoken in our midst.  Please pardon me for using the long form of the Gospel but I thought it was worth it for us to hear the full passage.  Most of us – myself included – don’t often give enough consideration to the fact that when we hear the reader proclaim the readings, we’re actually listening not to the words of a human (although the Bible has many authors), but rather to the words of God.  Just think, at every Mass, it is God who speaks to us through His word.  We believe it’s His inspired word, because after every reading, we hear the reader say, “The word of the Lord,” or we hear the priest say, “The Gospel of the Lord.”  Of course, there was a human author who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the sacred text; and because of that inspiration, we believe that it’s God who’s actually the author of the books of the Bible, such that it’s God who’s really speaking to us when we hear His word proclaimed.

          The Mass gives us the opportunity to hear the voice of God.  It’s a good to stop and consider how well we prepare ourselves to listen to His voice.  One good practice is going through the readings at home before you come to Mass, or arrive early enough that you can sit and read them before you hear them.  And if you’re technology-savvy, you might appreciate looking the readings up online, at the website, usccb.org, or using any number of fancy “apps” to read the readings on a tablet such as the Apple iPad or the Kindle Fire.

 

          In my own preparation for preaching, I like to sit with the readings early on in the week (on Monday or Tuesday) and ask God what He wants to tell me, and what message He wants me to share with others.  If you ever wanted to better appreciate what a priest does, you might sit with the readings and think about what kind of homily you’d preach if you were the preacher.  Or maybe you just want to sit down, read the readings, and focus on 3-4 sentences that really speak to you.  That’s a practice commonly called “lectio divina,” in Latin, or “divine reading” in English.  It’s a practice of prayerfully reading the sacred words of the Bible and considering how God’s word might be applied to your life.    

          God is still speaking to the world, but we are often too busy or we don’t try to open the ears of our heart to listen to what He has to say.  We all need to take time to slow down and listen for the voice of God. 

          So I invite you to do that this week – take some time and prepare yourself to come to Mass next Sunday; read the readings before you get to Mass, or arrive early enough so that you can read them before you hear them; ask God what He wants to say to you; ask Him what He wants you to share with others.  When we open our ears to hear God’s word, we’ll probably be amazed at what we hear.                             

Faithfulness in the Midst of Imperfection - Holy Family 2013

Location: Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 8:30 & 10:30 a.m. Sunday Masses

Date: Sunday December 29^th, 2013 (Feast of the Holy Family)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
2^nd Reading: Colossians 3:12-21 (OR 3:12-17 {short form})
Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

 FOCUS: The Christian family is called to be a “domestic church” where children learn the faith.  

FUNCTION: Make prayer a priority in the home; take an active role in teaching the faith to kids.  

            For many of us, family is very important this time of year.  We all have different families, and maybe some our family gatherings are relatively peaceful, while others are perhaps a bit more contentious.  No family is perfect – not even the family we celebrate today, the Holy Family.  St. Joseph often gets the shortest straw when it comes to describing the imperfection of the Holy Family, because Mary was conceived without sin and Jesus is the Son of God and that leaves poor Joseph, the sinner, with all the blame for the Holy Family’s imperfection J  That’s more of a joke than anything, because actually the Holy Family (like all families) experienced not only the imperfection of family life, but also the imperfection of human life, generally speaking.

          Being an imperfect person – such as we all are – is tough; and being an imperfect person who’s also a member of an imperfect family which is living in an imperfect world is likewise tough.  In every family there are differences of opinion and arguments and resentments and unresolved conflict that build up over time; every family faces some measure of dysfunction because none of us are perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect family. 

          Consider the imperfections of the Holy Family – Mary conceived Jesus (through the power of the Holy Spirit) before she was officially married to Joseph; in the Gospel reading for today, the Holy Family had to retreat to Egypt in order to escape King Herod’s persecution and the slaughter of the Holy Innocents; when Jesus was 12 years old He decided not to return home with Mary and Joseph and instead remained behind in the temple talking to the elders, causing his parents much anxiety; Joseph probably died before Jesus began His public ministry, making Mary a widow and one of the most vulnerable members of society; and when He became an adult, Jesus abandoned his money-making business as a carpenter and instead embraced His vocation to be a poor, homeless preacher; Mary watched her only Son suffer a horrible death by crucifixion at the age of 33; and finally, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus ascended into heaven and Mary went to live with St. John the Apostle for the rest of her days.

          As you can see, there is all kinds of imperfection present in the life of the Holy Family; they experienced uncertainty about the future, sorrow, anxiety, fear, and so much more; they were a human family, and although we know them now as the Holy Family, they weren’t a perfect family.  And yet, despite all the imperfections they experienced, the Church proposes them to us as a model for Christian family life, not because they were perfect, but precisely because they weren’t perfect and still remained faithful in the midst of it all.

          The Church calls every Christian family to be a “domestic Church.”  That means that the Church envisions the Christian family to be the first and primary setting where children learn to forgive, to share, to respect the property of others, to pray, to worship, and to know God as a loving Father; this is the ideal for every Christian family, although every Christian family struggles to live up to this ideal.

          In describing the family as the Domestic Church, I want to offer a section from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; they are paragraphs 1656 and 1657:  

1656) In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith.  For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica.  It is in the bosom of the family that parents are "by word and example … the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation."

1657) It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all members of the family exercise the priesthood of the baptized in a privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and active charity."  Thus the home is the first school of Christian life and "a school for human enrichment."  Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one's life.

          The Christian family is called to be that place where we not only learn that our parents love us, but where we learn that God loves us, too; the Christian family is called to pass on the faith to children by word and example, to foster within each member of the family the God-given vocation unique to that child, and to be the first center of learning for human and Christian virtue. 

          But what does this look like?  As I’ve said before, I do not come from a perfect family; we have many flaws and imperfections in the Diehm family; but I’m thankful that my family tried hard to be a Christian family – we always ate and prayed together before meals as a family, we went to Church together every Sunday as a family, Mom and Dad always came in, said a prayer at our bedside, and tucked us in every night, and they made financial sacrifices so that my sisters and I could all receive a Catholic education.  I’m positive it all helped lay the foundation for me embrace my vocation to be a Catholic priest. 

          I’m not saying every family needs to be like mine; but I think we all need to find a way to imitate the example of the Holy Family and embrace the call for our families to become domestic churches, where children grow up knowing that they’re loved by their parents and by God.  Start with regular prayer in the home – pray together before meals and before bed; teach children basic Catholic prayers or pray a Rosary together as a family once a week; and pray for specific family, parish, or community prayer intentions.  Read Bible stories or stories from the Lives of the Saints together as a family.  Encourage children to think about and pray about their vocation, especially a possible religious vocation.  When children have questions about their faith, help them find the answers by reading together a children’s catechism.  But most importantly, take an active role in passing on our Catholic faith to the next generation and remember that Christian parents are the first and primary teachers of their children in the Christian faith.     

          With the help and intercession of the Holy Family, may our families become sanctuaries of faith for our children; and may God continue to bless our families, today and always.                    

      

The Benefits of Being Thankful

My homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Questions, comments, etc. are all welcome!

Location: Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 8:30 & 10:30 a.m. Sunday Masses
Date: Sunday October 13^th, 2013 (28^th Sunday in OT, Year C; Vocation Awareness Sunday)

READINGS:
1st Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-17
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
2^nd Reading: 2 Timothy 2:18-13
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
FOCUS: There are many benefits to having an attitude of gratitude for God’s gifts.  
FUNCTION: Make prayer a daily habit; spend at least 5 minutes a day talking to God.  



My trip to Haiti this past February continues to resonate with me.  Having never been to a third world country before, it was truly an eye-opening experience – to see the local people walking to and from the stream just outside of the town to wash what few clothes they have and bathe; to see the humble conditions in which the local townspeople live; and to see them walk several miles just to get to Mass on Sunday – it was all pretty amazing.  And it made me think about a lot of things that I sometimes take for granted – the luxury of having clean and running water, the ability to take a shower in the privacy of my own bathroom, being able to go to the grocery store to buy food, having a car to help me get places, having a regular and reliable source of income, and having a decent place to sleep, just to name a few of the things that I sometimes take for granted. 

 

          Life is much different in Haiti; they don’t have all the luxuries that we have here in the US.  When you really stop and think about it, we’re living the high life; we’re living better than probably 90% of the world; we have much that we should be thankful for.  And yet we still complain; I’m as guilty of this as the rest of us.  Many of us take our modern luxuries for granted.  I did, and I know that I still do.  I still need greater spiritual conversion in my life.  I still need to work on being thankful for what I do have rather than focused on what I don’t.  Going to Haiti helped me realize I need to develop “an attitude of gratitude.”

 

          And I think that’s what the readings are all about this weekend – developing “an attitude of gratitude.”  How often do we ask God for things, and then forget to say “thank you”?  God must think we’re terribly ungrateful once in a while!  It’s a vice we’ve all been guilty of at one point or another.  We ask, we ask, we ask, and then we forget to say thank you.  I suppose it’s part of our fallen, human condition; we know how to be needy, but we don’t always know how to be thankful.

          In both the first and the second reading, people were cleansed of the awful, flesh-eating disease of leprosy. As a side note, one of the best-known people to have worked with lepers is Saint Damien of Molokai.  He was Born in Tremelo, Belgium, on January 3^rd, 1840, and joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860.  He was born Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life.  In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was ordained.  For the next nine years he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii.  In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Molokai, after volunteering for the assignment.  Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony.  He announced he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins.  He died on April 15^th, 1889, on Molokai.  He was declared venerable in 1977; Pope John Paul II pronounced him “blessed” on June 4^th, 1995; and Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 11^th, 2009.  His feast day is also October 11^th.

 

          To be cured of leprosy was no small feat; anyone identified as a leper was segregated from society, because it was possible to get the disease through close, personal contact.  Lepers were considered ritually unclean, and had to go around announcing themselves as such.  The fact that Jesus cleansed them enabled them to return to social life; it was a gift of matchless value.  He cleansed all ten of the lepers, and only one returned to give Him thanks.  And that one former leper was now doubly blessed – not only had he been cleansed of his leprosy, but by his act of thanksgiving, he was now closer to his eternal salvation because of his faith and his act of thanksgiving.

 

          Maybe we haven’t received a gift from God like being cleansed of leprosy, but we’ve still received much from His generous hands – we have the gift of our family; the gift of being able to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell; the gift of all these luxuries around us; and most importantly, the gift of life.  That doesn’t mean life will always be easy; but even when life’s hard, and we have to face things such as failing health or broken relationships, God is still good even if we realize we’re living in a broken world. 

 

          So we might make a little examination of conscience: have we thanked God today for the good things we have?  Have we recognized the many blessings we’ve received, or have we allowed ourselves to be consumed with jealousy and envy?  Now’s the time to be thankful for what we have; and if we are thankful, we might not think so much about what we don’t have.  I think being thankful helps us realize that there are a lot of things that we don’t actually need; being thankful helps us be satisfied with less; it helps us to live simply and be more mindful of the needs of others; and it puts us in right relationship with God, who cares for us and provides for our needs.

 

          One thing we all have to be thankful for is the gift of our personal vocation; God has placed a unique calling on each of our lives.  And since today is also Vocations Awareness Sunday, it would do us good to stop and think about our vocation in life, especially if we feel like we haven’t yet answered it.  Many of you here today are called to marriage – and many of you have embraced that vocation because you’re already married; but God may be calling others here in a different way – some of you here might be called to the priesthood; others might be called to religious life; still others here may be called to the diaconate; and some of you might be called to life as a chaste, single person.  Whatever your vocation, God has a plan for your life – a plan to bring you a sense of peace and fulfillment; a plan to make you happy in this life and help lead you to “the life of the world to come.”

 

          I think it all starts with prayer: ask the Lord to show you your vocation; and even if you’ve already responded to your vocation in life, spend at least 5 minutes a day talking to God in prayer – ask Him to lead you and guide you, and thank Him for the ways in which He’s blessed you.  And you just might find yourself happier, more content, and closer to the kingdom of God.                

 

Jesus vs. the Power of Evil - Jesus Wins!

Homily for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

READINGS:

First Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28s

 FOCUS: There is a spiritual war being battled for our souls, but Jesus’ voice brings deliverance.

FUNCTION: Seek to hear Jesus’ voice in prayer, and thus find deliverance from evil. 

          Any kind of discussion about the subject of demons in today’s world is simultaneously fascinating and frightening.  You only need to take a glance at some of Hollywood’s recent cinematic productions to understand that the question of the demonic has captivated the popular, cultural imagination.  All kinds of questions come up: “Is it real, is it fiction?  Could demonic possession ever actually happen?  Is this something I should really be afraid of, or should I just laugh it all off as superstitious nonsense?”  These are good and reasonable questions….and evidence that – as a larger society – we don’t quite know what to do with stories involving demonic influences.  Culturally, I think we’re deeply conflicted about the issue.  Should we write them off as wild and crazy stories or give them credit as true and possible events?

          Some of us here might be asking that question regarding the Gospel story we just heard, namely, Jesus’ confrontation with a demoniac – a person possessed by an unclean spirit.  But before we can better understand what happened in that situation, I think we have to understand what came before it.  Here’s the set-up: “Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  The people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” 

          Jesus did not enter the synagogue in Capernaum acting like other Rabbis, quoting the teachings of previous Rabbis who likewise quoted previous Rabbis, going all the way back to Moses and ultimately to God Himself.  Rather, when Jesus taught, He taught on His own authority – as the only-begotten Son of God – and not like the Rabbis or the scribes, who constantly appealed to others.  It is this authority that the people found so astonishing.  Some might have found it presumptuous for Him to teach on His own authority, but this was the mark of a prophet, of someone who was more than just a Rabbi. 

          The first reading gave us Moses’ prophecy about what God would do in the future for the people of Israel: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.”  When Jesus of Nazareth began His public ministry in Israel, He began to look more and more like this prophet that Moses had foretold that God raise up among the people of Israel.  His word had a different quality than the words of the Rabbis, and He Himself was a bit different.  His presence commanded attention, His words commanded respect, and His teachings commanded obedience, as though they came directly from the mouth of God Himself.

          Enter stage left: the man with the unclean spirits.  Suddenly, there was a confrontation of cosmic proportions….a kind of showdown between Jesus of Nazareth and the power of evil.  The man with the unclean spirits cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”  But the victor in this confrontation becomes immediately apparent.  Jesus only needs to say, “Quiet!  Come out of Him!” and the duel is over before it even really began.  And then “The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.”  The winner in this battle is abundantly clear: Jesus of Nazareth – 1; unclean spirits – 0.

          Jesus came among us to accomplish this very thing – to root out evil from the heart of humanity, whether in the form of sin in general, or in the form of the evil one’s control.  Jesus was always confronting the power of evil in the course of His ministry; and He continues to do so in our own day.  Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are in the midst of spiritual warfare – an invisible battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. 

          The power of evil – the Devil and his fallen angels, the unclean spirits – wants to capture our souls for all eternity.  But God wants to claim us as His own, so that we might know His amazing love and His saving power.  On a daily basis, we experience the pull between temptation and grace, between darkness and light, and between the power of evil and the power of good. 

          And we need to realize that we’re in this spiritual struggle in order to gain the upper hand and not be overwhelmed by the dark forces of evil.  The Church teaches that the Devil and evil spirits do exist.  They are a part of the created order, ultimately subject to God, but are able to exercise an amount of influence in our lives through our free will.  But when they are confronted by the voice of Jesus of Nazareth – the Son of God – they lose all power and must obey His commands.  And therefore we can find freedom and deliverance through Him, through hearing His voice in the depths of our souls.

          This is why prayer is so important in the spiritual life, because it is through prayer that we are able to hear the voice of the Son of God and find deliverance from the power of evil.  Without prayer – without being connected to God’s grace and mercy – we cannot hope to overcome the dark forces that surround us or find ultimate victory over the evil powers that threaten to overtake us.  We need Jesus; we need to hear His voice.  Only in Him can we win the spiritual war.

          So it’s good to develop a concrete habit of prayer.  You might say a quick prayer before you get out of bed in the morning, asking God to help you meet the challenges of the day.  Praying before meals is also a good practice.  It’s also good to pray and examine your conscience every night.  And we mustn’t forget about praying when we celebrate the sacraments…before, during, and after….especially here at Mass before we receive the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion and when we go to confess our sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation. 

          Some people like to pray when they’re in the car on their way to work or running errands…a good opportunity to get in a Rosary or a Divine Mercy chaplet.  Some people also pray the official prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, as a way to sanctify the different times and “hours” of the day.  And praying and meditating with Sacred Scripture or the lives of the Saints or another devotional prayer book is always a good practice. 

          What matters most is that we’re praying.  And it doesn’t have to be simply the “traditional” prayers.  We should feel free to pray spontaneously, to speak to God as we would to a friend, to tell Him what we’re thinking and feeling and what matters to us most.  And we shouldn’t always ask for things.  We can praise Him for His goodness or thank Him for the graces we’ve received.  We can adore Him with our hearts and minds and tell Him how sorry we are for the times we’ve offended Him.  The tradition of Christian prayer is actually quite vast.  So we don’t need to get stuck in any one form; we can try out many forms of prayer. 

          That way, if we should ever feel like we’re about to be sucked into the darkness by the power of evil – as the man in the Gospel must have felt – all we need to do is appeal to Jesus through prayer and we will always find deliverance from evil and the strength necessary to win the battle.                                         

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Model for Spiritual Growth

Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (January 1st, 2012)

READINGS:
First Reading: Numbers 6:22-27
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Second Reading: Galatians 4:4-7
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21

FOCUS: Mary teaches us about how to respond to God’s vocation in our lives. 
FUNCTION: Imitate Mary’s contemplative example of prayer to achieve spiritual growth.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Model for Spiritual Growth

          Well, we’ve made it!  2011 is (nearly) over and we now stand on the threshold of 2012, a whole new calendar year: a year of new opportunities and possibilities, a year to make better choices than we did last year, a year to celebrate the hope that we have for the future.  For so many people (and for so many of us), a new year brings with it new hope.  Many people choose to make a “New Year’s Resolutions.”  Some might say, “This year, I’m going to eat more healthy food,” or “This year, I want to exercise more and stay in better shape,” or “This year, I want to devote more time to prayer and works of charity,” or “This year, I’m going to try harder to get along with the difficult people in my life.”  Certainly there are many more resolutions that people might make.  And some people might even make more than one if they’re feeling ambitious and motivated.    

          How about a simple show of hands?  Alright, raise your hand if you’ve already come up with a New Year’s Resolution.  OK, very nice.  Some of us have a New Year’s Resolution in mind, and some of us are still thinking.  It’s easy to find plenty of articles and stories and tips online about making New Year’s Resolutions.  But since we’re all here in Church on New Year’s Day, let’s consider what the Church proposes for how we should celebrate the New Year, because there’s a lot of wisdom to be gained from the Church’s perspective.     

          The first thing we should notice is that, every January 1^st, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.  It’s the same every year: January 1^st will always be the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.  In this way, the Church tells us at the beginning of every year, “Do you want to celebrate the New Year appropriately?  Look to Mary!  Do you want to make a change in your life this year?  Look to Mary!  Do you want to become a better, more virtuous person this year?  Look to Mary!” 

          But why do we or should we look to Mary so often?  Why does the Church celebrate so many Marian feast days over the course of the year?  Why does the Church always hold up Mary as the model for us to imitate?  It’s because she always…without fail…leads us to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!  And since the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christmas with an octave (a single celebration extended over a period of eight days), it’s only fitting that on the eighth day we should honor the Mother of Jesus our Savior: Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth, the “handmaid of the Lord” that God the Father chose and blessed, among all women, to be the mother of His only-begotten Son.

          And so here on the threshold of 2012, we look to Mary for our inspiration and our model as we move forward into the New Year.  Here’s one New Year’s Resolution we might consider making in regard to our faith: “This year, I will focus on how I can continue to grow in the spiritual life.”  And what a beautiful example and model of continual spiritual growth we have in Mary, the Mother of God!

          The Gospel for today gives us one simple sentence…one simple verse so worthy of our consideration and imitation: “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  In this one simple verse, we gain a small glimpse into the interior, spiritual life of Mary, the Mother of God.  At her deepest core, Mary was a contemplative.  She wasn’t someone who just went through life without thinking and reflecting on things.  No, just the opposite: throughout her life, she constantly reflected on what God was doing both in and through her and in and through her only Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the One destined to be the world’s Savior and Redeemer.  Mary had a deep and rich interior prayer life.  It was there, in the inner recesses of her Immaculate Heart, that she treasured what God was doing in the world and reflected on how God was active in her life.

          We might call this kind of prayer “theological reflection,” a discipline that involves a concentrated examination of life, through prayer, to see and understand how God is at work.  God is living and moving and active in the world, and if our prayer is going to be fruitful and if we want to grow spiritually, we need to be able to see and understand how God is at work in our lives.  Theological reflection is really a matter of living our lives with eyes of faith. 

          So we might ask ourselves: do we make seeing and understanding how God is at work in our lives a priority?  Are we on the lookout for God’s activity?  Are we looking at our lives with eyes of faith?  How we answer those questions will determine to what extent our spiritual lives grow in 2012.  Mary’s example gives us a kind of “game plan” for spiritual growth in the New Year.

          Let me detail for you some elements of that game plan.  First, we have to be in relationship with God through prayer to see how God is at work in our lives.  Offering a brief prayer to God in the morning (or sometime near the beginning of our day) is a good practice: “God, please give me eyes to see You today.  Help me to be mindful of the ways in which You are at work in the midst of my daily life.”  Secondly, we have to go through our day believing and trusting that God is always present to us: while paying bills, while doing dishes, while taking care of kids, while working in the office, while working outside, while we eat, and so on.           

Third, we have to allow ourselves to be present to God.  This also involves prayer, and spending at least some time during the day for silence and reflection, allowing our hearts and minds to be present to God who is present to us.  And fourth, we might conclude with the “examen of consciousness,” a prayer developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola as a way to find God in all things and to cooperate more fully with His grace.  It’s a practical examination of the day where we prayerfully examine the ways in which we either responded or failed to respond to God’s grace in our lives.  A simple search online would allow you to find out more information about the “examen of consciousness” prayer. 

          Doing these very practical things could make a big difference for our spiritual growth in 2012.  Not only that, it could also help us live our vocation more fully or help us understand what vocation God is calling us to.  Mary, the Mother of God, gives us a beautiful example of responding graciously to the vocation that God has planned for us.  And since we’re beginning the Vocations Crucifix Program this weekend in the parishes of our Spires of Faith cluster, now is an excellent time to follow Mary’s example of prayer so that we, too, might respond more fully (or for the first time) to our God-given vocation.

          And so as we stand here on the threshold of 2012, let us pray to Holy Mary, the Mother of God, that she might help us grow in our spiritual lives, find God in the midst of daily life, and truly live our vocation, as together we pray:

          “Hail, Mary….”