Homily: Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

January 1, 2025

My dear brothers and sisters, we are celebrating the Mass of the New Year, a special Mass of thanksgiving to God for his numerous graces to us in the concluded year 2024 and for the privilege God has given us to see the light of the jubilee year 2025. The month of January is a unique month within the year. I remember this history which has it that January was named after the Roman god called Janus, who is the god of entrances and exits. Janus was a deity associated with beginnings, endings and transitions, from his name Janus, the name of the first month of the year January was coined. One special feature of this god Janus is that it has two faces, one looking at the back facing the past and the other looking at the front facing the future.

So, the month of January shows us two faces of past and future like that of the Roman god Janus. We look at the past in review and look at the future with hope and determination. When we examine our spiritual life and overall life in the year 2024, we can see different highpoints and low points, consolations and disappointments, in all we give thanks to God, there is hope for a better future. Not all those who entered the year 2024 with us have that privilege of entering the New Year 2025. For instance, this last week was a nightmare for the aviation industry. On Christmas day, an Azerbaijan Airline crashed on Kazakhstan claiming 38 lives. Four days after that on Sunday feast of Holy family, South Korean Jeju airline crash-landed again with 179 fatalities. The passengers on board these airlines were people like us who had the best of plans for the Christmas holidays and New year but unfortunately against their plans they ended in ashes with the wreckage of the crashed airplanes. As we pray for their repose, we are called to see every reason to thank God for the gift of life, health and wellbeing for us to see the New Year 2025.

The front/ future face of the month of January invites to look at year 2025 with hope and firm determination. If we put our minds and hearts to anything, spiritual life inclusive, there is always much we can do, most times, the problem is our laziness, our bad habits, our evil inclinations, our tendency to remain in our comfort zones. One who conquers himself or herself conquers eternal happiness. Today, the Church celebrates the solemnity of Mary Mother of God. The Church in her wisdom on the first day of the year presents this woman to us as an ideal human being for us to look onto her as we journey all through the year. Her Yes made every heavenly plan about our salvation possible. As apparently contradictory as it is for a human being to be the mother of God who created her, but the Yes of the Blessed Virgin Mary made the seemingly impossible to be possible. Similarly, when we say Yes to God, we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

A biblical commentator told this story about one manager who called his engineer who served him for many years to build him a model house with the best of materials in the most exclusive residential area. The manager paid in full for the best of the building materials. This engineer when he saw that he was not supervised, began to substitute good materials with inferior ones, he began to cut corners and maneuver in order to make unjust and illegal profit. When the house was finished, the manager called a party to celebrate its completion and in that party presented the engineer with the key of the house as a gift to him for his years of meritorious service to him. This engineer eternally lived in regrets, he never knew he was building his own house and he messed it up.

Brothers and sisters, this a new year God has given us to build our own house where we shall live for eternity. God has given us a new blank cheque 2025 with His signature on it for us to write whatever amount we like. I pray for God’s abundant blessings on all our endeavors this year. I invoke these words that God gave to Moses in the first reading of today to all of us: “May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen