Faith

Friday, January 3, 2025Faith

Submit a Letter to the Editor

It is hard to imagine Mary making a New Year's resolution to exercise more or take more "me time."

With the arrival of the new year, it is the custom to decide upon one or more New Year's resolutions. We might like to improve our physical health or find more time for relaxation. Maybe we want to be better in our interactions with others or improve some skill. Whatever our particular resolution might be, they tend to be mostly about what we intend to do -- a program of self-help or self-improvement. In many instances, if not most, such resolutions do not endure very long into the new year.
This secular custom of making resolutions has some links with Christian practices. After all, when we make an act of contrition, we commit to some kind of amendment of our actions, although such pledges are less about our capacity and more about God's mercy and grace. We do not have a devotional version of the New Year's resolution. Instead, the Church offers us the feast of the Mother of God on the first day of the year. Not only is the feast not about self-help, it is not about ourselves.

This feast, set among the other feasts of the Christmas Octave, celebrates the key role of Mary in the story of our salvation. In her, the first and best disciple, we see a woman who places her trust in God and her faith in her son. At the Annunciation, she offers her yes to the Father. At Cana, she witnesses to her son by instructing others to do as he tells them. At the cross, she demonstrates her courageous fidelity and enduring love. In the Acts of the Apostles, she is found at the heart of the Church and in the outpouring of the Spirit.
It is hard to imagine Mary making a New Year's resolution to exercise more or take more "me time." It is easy to see that, resolutions aside, she is herself resolute in her faith, her charity, and her hope. In surprising, difficult, and seemingly impossible circumstances, she does not lose heart. While she is the most powerful example in the Christmas story, she is not the only one. Over the last week or so, we have seen other such examples and powerful witnesses. John the Baptist was resolute in giving witness to the Lamb, even when faced with arrest and death. Joseph demonstrated his obedience to the Lord and the free embrace of his call to protect and raise the Christ child. The Wise Men were resolute in their search for wisdom and truth. Simeon and Anna were resolute and steadfast in awaiting the Lord and clear-eyed in their recognition of his arrival.
I have no objection to making New Year's resolutions. Goal setting can be a useful tool. Still, we might learn from the examples of these witnesses that self-help is often illusory. They show that true transformation takes place when we stop thinking about ourselves and give our attention, our trust, and our obedience to the Lord. Our efforts rarely endure, but if Mary demonstrates anything in her resolute faith, it is that all things are possible with God. Maybe our best New Year's choice is simply to imitate our mother in her trusting love for her son and Our Lord.

-