To watch Fr. Joe’s Homily from the Solemnity of Mary: CLICK HERE!
In my New Year’s Day message to the Parish that will be sent to the Parish at noon on January 1st, I share that the first reading from Numbers has always had a special place in my life… As a newly ordained priest, it is the custom that “first blessings” are shared. And it was this blessing from the Book of Numbers that I used some 46 years ago.
And it seems to me that this reading is most appropriate for our world, for each of us, in the midst of a pandemic.
Appropriate that we be reminded that God cares for us, that God blesses us in good times and in times of trouble, like a pandemic…
The pain and sorrow, sickness and death, and all that is not good about a pandemic cannot be dismissed, it is real. But not to be dismissed is the presence of God, the blessings of God, these past 12 months…
The blessing of health care workers in their care of the sick…
The blessing of the outreach to those in need, as seen in the many food distributions in the past months…
The blessing of being able to “take a breath” from the every second hecticness that seemed to be part of life before COVID…
The blessing of and appreciation of others, beginning with our families…
How were you blessed in 2020??? How were you a blessing to others in 2020???
May we continue to grow in knowing and appreciating the love, the blessings of God – for us and others in the coming year… and may we grow in being a blessing to one another in the year to come and beyond as sons and daughters of God.