QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Luke 2, 16-21

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

Today we begin a New Year. How will it turn out? What do I hope for this New Year? What do I really want? What do I need? To what will I devote my time, so precious and important? What would be something truly new and good in this year which begins today?

   Will I live in just any way, moving from one job to another without knowing exactly what I want or what I live for, or will I learn to sift what’s important and essential from what’s of little account? Will I live in a routine, boring fashion, or will I live more creatively?

   Will I continue to distance myself from God a little more, or will I seek him with more confidence and sincerity? Will I continue to be silent before him for another year without opening my lips or my heart, or will a  small and humble  prayer that is sincere at last spring forth from my weary soul? 

   Will I again live this year concerned only for my well-being or will I learn to sometimes be concerned about making others happy? Whom will I come close to? Will I spread joy in their lives, or sadness and discouragement? Wherever I go, will life be more loving and less difficult?

   Will it be one more year in which I keep feverishly busy, becoming more selfish, tense and nervous, or will I set apart time for silence, rest, prayer, and encounter with God? Will I be restricted to solving my problems or will I try to bring about a more humane world for people to live in?

   Will I carry on being indifferent to the news that will reach me from countries suffering from hunger; continue to look on unmoved at the scene of destroyed bodies of the people of Iraq or of those drowned in makeshift open boats ? Will I still deal heartlessly with those who come to us seeking food and work? When will I learn to look upon those who suffer with a feeling of responsibility and solidarity?

  The newness of this year will not come to us from the outside. The newness can only spring from within our hearts. This year will be new if I learn to believe in a new way with greater trust, if I find new and more loving ways to live with my own people; if I awaken new compassion in my heart for those who suffer.