Treasures Of Mother Time
The Octave Day of Christmas
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
My dear encountered couples:
“Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” 2017 ends, a new year begins. Congratulations! You have lived and grown through another full year, 12 months, 365 days.
That is, I hope you have grown during that time given to you by God. Whether you have or not, you still can do so. How? By reflecting on all you have done during the past year, by thinking about all that has happened to you, by seeing in your experiences the many lessons that were contained in each event that you can remember.
Those acts of yours, those happenings in your life, those experiences are treasures. They are valuable for you. In them you can discover many hidden benefits. If you examine them you will find God working in your life with all his love. You can understand yourself by seeing how you responded to everything and everybody. You can become more aware of your needs. You can learn from your successes, your mistakes, even your sins. Your relationships with others, how you interacted with people - your relatives, your friends, with strangers - all this is accumulated wealth. For in it all is contained knowledge and wisdom needed for you to mature and grow as a human being and a child of God.
On this first day of the New Year we honor Jesus by celebrating a feast in honor of his mother entitled, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Jesus was proud of his mother. He must have been. He lived with her nearly 30 years of his 33-year life. Mary fulfilled the position of the mother of Jesus admirably. But we are told here that she was not one to carry out the function of mother in a robot type of fashion. She did not merely live each day, doing each duty, and meeting each obstacle in exemplary fashion. We are told that Mary treasured what took place in her life, and thought about it all. She reflected on happenings and learned from them. She grew in maturity using the benefits they offered. For she most likely knew that experiences are like mothers and fathers to all of us.
That which teaches us and makes it possible for us to grow towards adulthood as complete persons - psychologically, spiritually, mentally, and physically - can be looked upon as things which act as mothers and fathers. And as we grow and become more mature in every department, we are better able to be like mothers and fathers in the lives of others.
During the year just ended many things have happened to you and been done by you. Reflect on them. God wishes to teach you, mother you, father you by lessons learned from those experiences. Mary will help you do this if you would like her to. For she of all people wants you to grow more in the likeness of her Son. She is your spiritual mother and wishes to help you reflect and discover the worth of days gone by, the values of last year.
May you have a happy and prosperous 2018! But remember - much of its success depends on what you have learned from your past.
