May all of you have a most happy, holy and safe new year! As the calendar year moves to 2021, we celebrate our second new year with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. We celebrate Our Blessed Lady’s most ancient title, one which she possessed during the earthly life of Her Divine Son, Jesus, and the one which is, to this day, Her preeminent title, the Mother of God.
I mentioned that this is our second new year since about a month ago, on the First Sunday of Advent, we Catholics celebrated our new year of grace and favor from the Lord. Think back to November 29, 2020 and then recall each day up to today and count the blessings you have received. I dare say that each of us will recognize many obvious blessings from the Lord but also, we will recognize some blessings for the first time. What does this tell us? It reveals to us just how much God loves us and keeps us in mind and how much He wants us to express our gratitude by making good use of these many blessings. Perhaps this should be our one “doable” New Year’s resolution.
As this new calendar year begins, I would like to recount just a few of the blessings all of us in our Diocese received from the Lord in 2020. The sacramental life of the Church and the diocese is very much alive and flourishing. As I have gone around to many of our parishes for confirmation, I review the sacramental registers of the parishes and clearly, the numbers of infant baptisms are strong, as are the numbers of adult conversions, Catholic weddings, first Holy Communions as well as the devotional life of our parishes. This is a credit to you, the laity, and to our good and zealous priests and deacons and to the parishioners who assist them in daily parish life. I am so grateful to all for this. Even in the pandemic, I was able to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation for 658 young people from 39 of our parishes, and I expect that there will be more for this year of 2021.
One area which I plan to address throughout this year and which many of our parishes are already engaged in is regular times for public exposition and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. This is the Church’s preeminent devotion from which much grace is obtained personally and for the whole Church. It instills in those who come that profound love and reverence for Our Lord Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament and an even greater love for and desire to receive Him in Holy Communion at Mass. This is why the Church teaches us that the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives.
Not only do we have so much to be grateful to God for in our lives past and present, we have so much to hope for in Him in this new year. Let us resolve to pray for one another and to do our best to live the life of Christ by living His corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Again, I remember all of you daily at the altar and do have a happy, holy and safe 2021.