MARY, MOTHER OF GOD Lk. 2:16-21.

“May the Lord bless you and keep you…, may the Lord show you his face and grant you peace.” Num. 6:24-26.

Today, we greet everyone with a wish for a Happy New Year. God also desires this for us. We can begin our prayer by accepting the blessing of the First Reading: “May the Lord bless you and keep you…”. Then, we go with our imagination to the manger, where the humble shepherds witnessed the greatest Good News: the Savior of the world lies in a manger. They also see Mary, his mother, a simple woman like them. The shepherds left praising God for all that they had seen and heard, and Mary kept all this in her heart, to meditate on it. What feelings does it awaken in us to become aware that “in the fullness of time, God sent his Son, born of a woman like us”? (Gal. 4:4)