IT IS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL YEAR, FILL, DRAW AND SERVE

 The Octave of Christmas, Friday 1st January, 2021. 

The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.

Readings : Num 6:22-27, Ps 67, Gal. 4:4-7, Luke 2:16-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

IT IS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL YEAR, FILL, DRAW AND SERVE

Every first of January the Church begins the year with the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. This is to remind us that every year is a gift of God to humanity, we journey through it in hope, full of expectations, favour, grace and blessing just like Mary whom God in time endowed with the great responsibility of becoming the Mother of his Son Jesus Christ, thereby sharing in greatly in the universal plan of God for humanity. 

Following the role of Mary in God’s plan for our salvation, the Church ascribes some special prerogatives or privileges to her. These prerogatives concern what the Faith of the Church affirms in connection with the blessed Virgin Mary. They include her immaculate conception, her perpetual virginity, the assumption of Mary and the title Mary, the Holy Mother of God (Theotokos), which is the foundation of other prerogatives. The solemnity of this prerogative is what we are celebrating today which shows her special role in the universal plan of God, of which our Gospel passage today gave us some details of how she cooperated with the will of God and treasured all the things that happened to her and pondered them in her heart.

This tells us that our success in life is determined by our disposition towards doing the will God. Hence, we have to identify our plans and purposes this year with the universal plan of God for humanity. But how can we identify the plan of God? Very simple, we were told in Gospel of John 2:1-11, how the wedding couple invited Jesus and his disciples in the most important day of their lives. And when an embarrassing moment came up during the course of the celebration, Mary in her usual way of helping people asked Jesus to save the couple from social embarrassment and even when her request was not granted by her son, she had strong faith that he will not refuse her request. So she said to the servants: “ Do whatever he tells you”

By this request Mary who represents the Church reveals to us the key to a successful and happy Christian Life. That is to say that, the secret key that opens the treasure of a successful and happy Christian life is to do whatever he (Jesus) tells us. But what did Jesus say we should do? He told the servants: Fill, Draw and Serve. Telling us to fill our life with the water of salvation which he offers us every day through his Words and Eucharist and when we have filled our lives with the fountain of his presence, then we should draw from the joy it offers and serve humanity who are really in need and thirsty for the word of God especially at this moment in our world when humanity really hope and seek for God’s intervention. 

Dear friends, let this principle guide all our activities this year. We must learn to fill our minds with positive things so that we can draw from the abundance of our hearts and serve humanity. All we need is to ask God to fill us with wisdom and show us what we can offer to humanity this New Year in accordance with his plan, for by so doing we will be successful in all we do this year.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of another New Year, grant that through the intercession of our Mother Mary, may we find strength to do your will always especially in all our daily struggles. May your grace and favour be with us even to the last hour of this new year. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy New Year