Mary the Mother of God. Year C - First of January, 2019
First Reading: Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm: Ps 66:2-3. 5. 6. 8. “May God bless us in his mercy.”
Second Reading: Galatians 4:4-7
Gospel Acclamation: Hebrews 1:1-2
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for Mary Mother of God. Year C - 1st January 2019, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/mary-the-mother-of-god-january-2019 (EPISODE: 133)
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Homily Mary Mother of God. Year A - 1st January 2019
The new year 2019 is upon us. May God bless us all with a happy, healthy and grace-filled year.
It is wonderful as the new calendar year begins, (and the old year has ended), to do a spiritual stock-take. Each new year, we give thanks to God for the many gifts and blessings we have received in the year just ended, and to give thanks in anticipation for the countless opportunities, graces and blessings that God will give us this coming year. It is a time for new starts and looking forward to how we can be the best disciples of the gospel that we can be.
Even though our church year actually started a month ago at the start of Advent, nevertheless, the start of the calendar year is still an important milestone.. Another year which we commit to the service of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
On that same thought… 2019 is not just another year….. Rather, it is another year “for” !!! (For being humble servants in God’s Kingdom, for compassion, love, generosity and kindness). It is quite accurate to say that what is about to begin, in the old style of wording, is truly the Year of Our Lord, 2019.
What better way of celebrating the beginning of a new calendar year than by dedicating it to the care and prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and the first and most perfect disciple.
We pray that Our Lord Jesus, through the constant prayer and intercession of the Mother of God, will bless and protect us and give success to our work, as we strive this year to be faithful disciples of Christ in our daily lives and actions.
Mary the Mother of God is a wonderful inspiration for us too.
Mary’s prayers and example assist us as we dedicate ourselves to help (in any ways that God asks of us), to establish God’s kingdom in the places we live and work and socialise.
We have so much for which to be grateful: All the people and events for which we are truly and deeply thankful; including our families, our friends, our brother and sister parishioners, our wider community, our nation: which is blessed with so many natural gifts and the gift of relative peace and freedom, and grateful too for the gift of our Church too; the gift of our faith, which makes us beloved daughters and sons of God.
I truly believe that, as part of our regular prayer it is very important to constantly remember the many blessings we have received. It is truly astounding how many things we can give thanks for. We often cannot comprehend or recall our blessings, unless we regularly take time write them down - journal them each day.
It is so important to have a grateful, remembering heart. The Blessed Virgin Mary always had a remembering heart, even when, (and especially when), things were going terribly wrong and did not make the slightest sense. Mary the mother of God pondered, prayed, praised, thanked and cherished and trusted in God.
In our New Year’s Masses, (dedicated to Mary the Mother of God), who is the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, We present our discipleship and prayers.
We offer up prayers for the year that has ended.
We offer up all the good we have done in the previous year to our God.
May God transform all our efforts for the good, for God’s own good purposes.
We think of our loved ones, friends and fellow parishioners who have passed away this last year past, and pray for all our departed loved ones, as we continue to commend them to the ongoing and eternal care of God. We trust that they are now enjoying the peace and reward of God’s eternal kingdom.
And we offer up prayers for all our loved ones, friends, colleagues and parishioners, that God may hold them in the palm of his hand this coming year.
It is a good thing for us to make new year’s resolutions, knowing that only with God’s grace and guidance can these resolutions bear much fruit…
At the start of 2019 we pray that 2019 will be a year filled with grace and happiness and peace. And, when we speak of a happy new year, we know that God’s idea of happiness is a fresh and challenging one. It is this TRUE happiness we are really seeking. It is God’s idea of happiness that we really desire.
“Look at Mary and Joseph kneeling before the manger. They must be tired. They have traveled 75 miles or so from Nazareth to Bethlehem on foot and on the jolting back of a donkey. They must be very hungry. They have not had a real meal since they left Nazareth some three days ago. They must be cold in this damp cave, in the midst of winter. It must have been very humiliating for them to discover no room among their relatives in their ancestral home or at the village Inn.
Yet in the midst of all of this, Mary and Joseph are the happiest people to walk the face of this earth. Here in Bethlehem they are teaching us the amazing paradox that it is only when we lose ourselves in the love and service of Jesus that we find true happiness. Happiness that this world can never give and no one can take from us. But how can we lose ourselves in the love and service of Jesus? Jesus has made it very simple,
“Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you do for me.”
So on this first day of the New Year let us ask for the grace to know Jesus more intimately, love him more and more fully… and follow him more closely” ((quote from Fr Rodney Kissinger, S.J.)*
…..So that this may be a truly Happy New Year according to God’s vision for the world.
For the new year, beginning, we ask God to bless and make fruitful our words, our actions and our work, and help us to live the witness to the good news…
May God bless us and keep us in faith, hope, love and health in this new year 2019 and beyond. May Mary, the beloved Mother of God, pray for us in good times and in times of trial or struggle, and keep us in her tender care as we faithfully follow our beloved Lord into this new and exciting year of possibilities.
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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
#Quote from Fr Rodney Kissinger, S.J.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
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Please note - It is often a week or so Ahead: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
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“Faith, Hope and Love, A time of Christian worship and reflection” - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
Psalm verses are taken from “The Psalms: the Grail Translation. Inclusive Language Version.” ©1963, 1995, 2004 The Grail (England), published by HarperCollins. London.
Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg’s 1993 book “Together we pray”. Published in Sydney Australia By E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).
{ “Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin” -published 2011, Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski
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May God bless and keep you.
Mary the Mother of God. Year C
(First of January, 2019) (EPISODE: 133 )
“May God bless us in his mercy.”
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault,* through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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Virgin Mary I
EUCH PRAYER
Communion side. pwk: LH
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Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
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