Daily Thoughts: Happy New Year everyone! I have to admit this January 1st is a little overwhelming for me. I am beginning a calendar year knowing that by its end I will be 60 years old! I know that age is biology or physiology but it is also a state of mind and my mind is going to need some time to arrive at 60, so I am glad it has 11 months to do so!
What caught my attention today as we here in our small little community celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God, was not anything directly from the readings but something I ran across yesterday and it stuck with me.
For a large part of the world yesterday was just New Year's Eve and the focus of most people was celebrating the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. Perhaps if you are a political person you followed the last minute struggle of our government to not go over the "fiscal cliff" whatever that means. I am sure there were other things one people's minds but for a small group of people mainly people who lived or grew up in Pittsburgh during the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's, or die hard baseball fans from that period yesterday was a day to stop and remember. I was 40 years ago yesterday that Roberto Clemente died on a mission of mercy taking relief supplies from Puerto Rio to Nicaragua. Clemente played right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 years from 1955 until 1972. He was one of the great players of the game and if you grew up following the Pirates as I did, he was the greatest!
His legacy goes far beyond the baseball field. He was a man dedicated to people, he was a man dedicated to keeping hope alive in people. He worked tirelessly on and off the field and when he could have been home enjoying life and the fruits of his baseball career he was not. He was loading a plane with supplies to help others. Clemente was a great baseball player but an even great human being.
Now how does all of this fit with our feast today? Well one of Clemente's sayings that has always struck me was tweeted a few times yesterday, "Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on earth." It is a saying that has stayed with me from the first time I hear it. Almost every time I have been confronted with a decision about life I ask myself, "Is this an opportunity to make a difference?" Sometimes I make the right choice but other times I know I have wasted my time and not been the person I could have been!
All throughout Advent and now into the Christmas season we are reminded of the story of Mary, a simple woman, blessed, graced by God who when confronted with an opportunity to make a difference in the world did, not just once but over and over again. At every turn of life Mary took the opportunity not just to live through but to make a difference, not to waste time but to bring about the loving presence of God. She did it as the Mother of God, she did it as wife to Joseph, she it as mother to the beloved disciple and she does it as Mother of the Church for us today.
It might seem odd connecting a baseball player like Roberto Clemente and Mary, but each of them had a deep desire to help others, to make a difference, to keep alive the gift of hope. Perhaps they become two people who can challenge us as we begin a New Year to look at each choice, each decision, each experience of our life in 2013 as an opportunity to make a difference and thus not waste our time here on earth!
Daily Prayer: O God of wonder and mystery, author of all life, enliven us with your grace to see each moment in life as an opportunity, an opportunity to have faith, to hope, to love and make a difference. Bless us with the spirit of Mary, whom we celebrate this day as the Mother of Christ, that we might always respond to life with hope alive in our hearts! As we have been we continue though out this Christmas Season to pray for families in grief; for little ones whose lives were too short; for teachers, administrators and responders who put others first; for firefighters who risk their lives; for a community that must find a way to live; for all of us who seek a world of lasting peace! May you always bless us in your mercy...Amen!
Runner's Thought: Happy New Year runners, may the wind always be at your back and may you run each day with purpose, meaning and the presence of God!
New Year's blessings to all! I hope your celebration last night was fun and safe. I saw the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of our TV room here in Pelham and I did it alone as everyone else was either away or in bed. May all your hopes, dreams and plans for the New Year find blessing and life in God's love. May 2013 be a year of faith, of peace and of much grace for all of you! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
PS Sorry this is a little late but I went to bed at 1:30 am and I am moving a bit slow today!
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