A new year is meant to be a fresh start right? I don’t know about you but it doesn’t feel like a fresh start or a new beginning this year.
Before my by esther sisters and I recorded our last podcast for the year, we talked about how things don't necessarily end when the year ends, how some things can be carried over to the new year, and are still yet to be finished.
To add to this, I listened to the Poco a Poco Podcast where they talked about similar sentiments. They talked about how God isn’t finished with our stories, it doesn’t simply just end here. The stories of our lives still keep going and are unfinished. Only in hindsight can we see why and how things happened the way they did.
On the podcast they also talked about how Mother Mary would not have known everything that her ‘fiat’ entailed. She gave her fiat without knowing what would happen and surely with many uncertainties and things to be anxious about. We too, are called to keep saying yes, saying yes to God’s will and the path He has planned for us. That we keep saying yes even if we can’t see the bigger picture or the end in sight; that it is okay to grieve at times but how important it is to be joyful even in the midst of suffering. Jesus was born in a simple stable as a humble baby. Mary and Joseph must’ve felt anxious about not giving Jesus more than a stable. They would’ve been exhausted from traveling and from being constantly rejected and turned away. Despite the circumstances, imagine the joy and love they felt for Jesus as He was born, the joy they would’ve felt as they held Him.
To start 2022 off, I went to Mass with my family. The first day of the year is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Fr Peter talked about St Louis De Montfort’s advice about receiving the Eucharist. He talked about receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and walking Him to His mother, Mary - the only person who could love Him in the way He deserves. He told us to imagine Jesus and Mary simply being together, conversing. I felt so much peace and joy as I imagined this. I found myself imagining Jesus and Mary sitting in a beautiful garden in Heaven, at peace, full of joy and love. I imagined them inviting me in, and sharing that love with me. And so I came home and decided to draw this image.
It was a beautiful way to start the year, and is exactly what I needed. To entrust the coming year to Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family. To surrender all the uncertainties, anxieties, heartaches to them, and to dwell in His light, joy, hope and peace. To remind myself to wholeheartedly say ‘yes’ to God’s plan, to His will, to His peace, and that everything will be okay. Reminding me that there’s still more to the story.
janz.
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