1/1/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reading: Luke 2:16-21

16 The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
17 When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.
18 All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.
19 And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
21 When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

1/1/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reflection: Luke 2:16-21

New year’s day is always a good time to start anew. It is actually the most opportune moment to reflect on what has happened in the previous year and to look forward to a better year. Why not start with how we related with God, with other people and with our own self? After all, it is these relationships that truly matter in our life.

In the gospel reading above, we see Mary the Mother of Jesus, reflecting things in her heart. We too are invited to do the same. Perhaps in the previous years we tended to react rather than reflect. Perhaps we were prone to judge or gossip rather than meditate and contemplate especially the Word of God. This new year can be a year of more reflection and hopefully we become wiser and thus, we will have better relationships.

With Mary, Joseph and the Child Jesus, we reflect on the status of families, our very own family most especially. We pray that this new year will bring about a new dawn of loving relationship between husbands and wives, between parents and children and between brothers and sisters.

With the shepherds in the above reading, we reflect on the kind of news that we hear and that we spread. May this new year be a year of Good News and less, if not nothing, of misinformation and disinformation. May we learn to bring joy to others rather than lies and deceit. The world today is full of treachery and a lot of people are in despair. May we be the “shepherds” who will spread hope and love to these people. In this way, we give glory and praise to God in heaven.

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