Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

Saint Mary, Mother of God – Year B

1st reading: Numbers 6,22-27

Psalm: 66 (67),2-3, 5, 6.8

2rd reading: Galatians 4,4-7

Gospel: Luke 2,16:21-XNUMX

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Three points I would like to highlight from the readings.

The first : “When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son ". I do not know what the fullness of times is, or rather I do not know what determines, in the chronology of human history, the fact that this is the fullness of times.

But what I hear is that we are now in the fullness of times; and therefore that it is no longer a question of living in nostalgia for the past, or in the frantic expectation of a future that would be better, or in the fear of a future that would be worse... It is a question of living today this fullness of times, and this fullness comes from the fact that God gave his Son, that is to say that Jesus is with us. Faced with everything that can worry us, before this kind of media steamroller to panic us on many subjects, our spiritual resistance consists of welcoming into our lives the presence of the Word made flesh, Jesus, who establishes us in the fullness of time. There is a spiritual choice to make, that of living everything with Jesus who is victorious over sin and death. And to live here and now.

The second thing is what the Gospel tells us about the Virgin Mary. This is not the only time that Saint Luke mentions this attitude: “Mary remembered all these events and meditated on them in her heart.”. How much time do we give to meditation each day? What hygiene of silence do we establish in our lives to have time to contemplate what we are experiencing, to contemplate what the world is experiencing, to have time to meditate on the work of God? Meditate also on the Word of God, and thus, the Holy Spirit can make resound in our hearts what God wants to show us, what God wants to tell us, so that we can move forward better in our lives following Jesus. If we are here, it is because we are attached to a young Carmelite, and the life of the Carmelites, even today, or of the Carmelite brothers, is an hour of prayer in the morning, an hour of prayer in late afternoon... To stand in silence, in the presence of the Lord, in this quest to encounter the Lord. The place of meditation in our lives…

The third thing comes from the first reading. A prayer of blessing:

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord make his face shine on you,

     may he be gracious to you!

May the Lord turn his face towards you,

     may he bring you peace!

It is good to know this blessing by heart, to return to it often in our memory, to return to it often in the encounters we experience, not only on this January 1, but every day of the year. We are as if sent by the Lord to tell every man that he is blessed by God. It would be happy if our lives expressed this blessing and if everyone we met saw themselves as blessed by God through us. For this, these words must be truly engraved in our hearts, and we must have a real desire to bless those we encounter, including, including... those who annoy us, those who have hurt us, those who hurt us Again. The Lord sends us to bless.

The Lord makes each of us a blessing to our brothers.

So yes, let us enter this new year of grace, in the certainty that we are in the fullness of time and that each day deserves to be lived fully.

Let us leave time each day for silence which allows us to meditate in our hearts like the Virgin Mary.

And let us let God’s blessing grow within us for our brothers.

Holy and Happy New Year!

Amen