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[v_02] January 1, 2026 – Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
New
Year’s Day: Resolution, Not Just Change
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Many years ago, while planning a
parish event with our beloved pastor, Monsignor Joe Petrillo, a group of us
were trying to figure out which Fridays he might be available. We were focused
on Fridays. So we asked him to look at his calendar and tell us which ones
worked.
He looked up and said, with a smile,
“Well, I’m free on my birthday.”
Now, his birthday was a
Friday that year—but that wasn’t really our question. Still, his answer made
perfect sense. Because birthdays stand on their own. If someone asks you your
birthday, you don’t tell them the day of the week you were born. You tell them
the date. The date matters.
So do days like Christmas Day.
And New Year’s Day.
These days don’t need explanation.
They invite us—almost insist—that we pause, look back, and look ahead.
And whenever we do that, we
inevitably start thinking about change.
But not all change is the same.
This morning, I want to reflect on 3
ways we talk about change:
evolution, revolution, and resolution—
and why resolution, especially, describes the Christian life.
1.
Evolution: Change Over Time
In science and biology, evolution
describes gradual change over generations. The Church has never rejected this
insight. She teaches that creation is dynamic—unfolding under God’s providence
and guidance. And even as we speak about development, we are clear: the human
soul is a direct gift from God.
Still, evolution is slow.
It happens whether we choose it or not.
Spiritually, many of us change this
way. We age. We accumulate experience. We learn lessons—sometimes the hard way.
Over time, some habits soften; others harden.
But time passing by itself does not
make us disciples.
Evolution alone does not make us holy.
2.
Revolution: Change Through Crisis
Then there is revolution—sudden,
disruptive change, often born of crisis, injustice, or suffering.
The Church takes suffering seriously
and always calls for justice. At the same time, she is cautious about
revolutions, because one injustice can easily replace another. Even in society,
resistance is justified only in extreme circumstances, and violence is never
celebrated spiritually.
In our own lives, revolutions happen
when trouble forces us to change: illness, loss, failure, fear.
Sometimes these moments wake us up.
Sometimes they leave us shaken—amazed, confused, even frozen.
In today’s Gospel, the shepherds
experience something like this. They go in haste to Bethlehem. They see
something extraordinary. And we are told that they are amazed.
But amazement alone does not last.
3.
Mary and Resolution: Cooperation with God
Mary shows us something deeper.
While others are amazed, we are told
that Mary treasures these things and ponders them in her heart.
Her amazement is not shallow or frightened.
It is patient.
It is receptive.
It cooperates with God’s action rather than trying to control it.
And this brings us to the third—and
deepest—kind of change: resolution.
Resolution is not simply a New
Year’s resolution that fades by February. In the spiritual life, resolution
means a firm decision, sustained by grace, lived through cooperation
with God’s will.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori reminds us
that holiness does not come from mastering every circumstance, but from
accepting God’s will—especially what God permits to happen.
So the real questions are these:
Do I resolve to accept what I cannot control?
My own frailty?
My limits?
The things in life that do not go according to plan?
Mary did not control the mystery
entrusted to her.
She cooperated with it.
Resolution
Lived: A Human Analogy
Every relationship teaches us
something about this.
Relationships evolve over time.
They sometimes experience revolutionary moments.
But most of all, relationships are sustained by resolution.
Marriage is a good example.
Before a wedding, a relationship
evolves. The wedding day itself can feel revolutionary—everything changes at
once. But a marriage is not sustained by a single dramatic day. A marriage is
sustained by resolution: a commitment renewed daily.
I remember being involved in my
sister’s wedding. At the rehearsal, I was directing things the way I always
did—“the bride stands here, the groom stands there.” And my sister gently
corrected me and said, “Why can’t you just call us by our names?”
It was a small moment, but an
important one. Marriage isn’t about an event. It’s about a relationship lived
day after day.
That’s what Christian discipleship
looks like too.
Every day can be a new beginning.
Every day can be a kind of New Year’s Day.
A
Prayer for a Resolved Heart
Recently, at a funeral Mass here, I
heard a prayer from the Franciscan tradition that beautifully captures what a
Christian resolution really looks like.
It goes like this:
May God bless us with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may
live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger at
injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless us with tearsto shed
for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into
joy.
And may God bless us with enough
foolishness
to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what
others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children
and the poor.
This is not a prayer asking for an
easy year.
It is a prayer asking for a resolved heart.
Discomfort—not to make us bitter,
but to wake us up.
Anger—not to make us violent, but to move us toward justice.
Tears—not to paralyze us, but to soften our hearts.
And foolishness—not recklessness, but Gospel courage.
Beginning
the New Year with Mary
On this first day of the year, we
are not simply turning a page on the calendar. We are placing ourselves again
under the care of Mary, the Mother of God.
She teaches us:
how to be amazed without being superficial,
how to change without becoming destructive,
how to resolve without relying on ourselves alone.
And so we begin this year with the
ancient blessing from the Book of Numbers—words Monsignor Petrillo loved to use
whenever someone asked him for a blessing, also the text of our 1st reading
today:
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.
Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us.
Teach us to ponder.
Teach us to trust.
Teach us to resolve.
And may this new year find us not
merely changed by time or crisis,
but transformed by cooperation with God’s will.
