Daily Gospel Reflection for January 1, 2015

Today's Gospel: Luke 2:16-21

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Exhausted from their long journey to Bethlehem, and from the birth of her son, Jesus, Mary is now paid a visit by a group of shepherds who speak of a magnificent tale of angels who proclaimed the birth of Jesus. Scripture tells us that Mary kept “all these things in her heart.” Is it any wonder that Mary kept reflecting on these things in her heart? After all, what human being can understand the mind of God? Who among us can attempt to explain the events surrounding the birth of Jesus? Mary’s response was to prayerfully keep the circumstances of all of these events in her heart. She didn’t question. She didn’t comment. She just prayed.

Our lives are similar to young Mary’s, for so often we experience events in life that make no sense to us:
o tragedies that shake us to our very core,
o situations that stop us in our tracks,
o interruptions that change the course of our life forever,
o and miracles that offer no rational explanation.

These are “Mary moments” for they are events in the course of our daily life where we are called to place our complete faith and trust in God, even though we don’t understand the why or how of something. Like Mary, we are invited to reflect upon these things in our heart and to be open to the Spirit of God speaking to us.

Ponder:

Reflect on a situation in your life that defied human logic. How can situations like this draw us closer to our Blessed Mother and to her son, Jesus?

Pray:

Lord,
Your goodness is without measure.
Increase my faith that my life may be like that of Mary, our Blessed Mother,
trusting in your will all the days of my life.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

We thank our friends at The Word Among Us for providing our gospel reflection team with copies of Abide In My Word 2015: Mass Readings at Your Fingertips. To pray the daily gospels with this wonderful resource, visit The Word Among Us.

Copyright 2015 Dr. Mary Amore