This past week we celebrated two feast days that are perfect themes to contemplate as we start off this Year of the Jubilee of Hope. For the past two years I have chosen a word of the year for this ministry. (2023 was Surrender and 2024 was Obedience) This year Pope Francis made it easy for me. How could I not choose hope! Also, how nicely it flows from the other two. If we, as women of our diocese, surrender our lives to God and obediently follow His ways will we not be led to a life of hope and thus be beacons of hope to those around us?

So, what about these feast days and how do they help us focus on this new theme? First let’s look at the Epiphany. This year my mass experience focused the message of this feast day on the star shining brightly for the Wise Men to see the path to follow. I celebrated mass in a small church in Playa del Carmen. The road to get there was wrought with troubles: a car that didn’t’ show up on time, unexpected traffic early in the morning, anxiety as I was sure we wouldn’t make it. We did make it however, although a few minutes late. When we arrived, the church was so crowded that we had to stand out on the sidewalk with over 50 others. I was sure it would not be a good “church” experience but I was very wrong. Somehow this experience of standing out on the street baking in the sun as my own town was being hit with snow and ice,  amongst people of all nationalities and hearing a simple homily from a priest whose English was not great brought the true simplicity of the feast day to me. Our God has not left us without out a light. Jesus left us the mass and the Eucharist. We can visit Him every week and more if we choose. The light of the tabernacle is always shining no matter how far from home we are and what the circumstances. It may feel different but comfortingly yet the same. But the real message is then we have to be the light as we turn around and enter our week.

Which leads me to the second feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This also is the liturgical focus of the Church this month. (Consider adding our monthly prayer, the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus to your prayer routine this month.) It is the focus of the light of the star and the light of our church. It should be the focus of our light too! My day starts off with this focus as I spend my time in morning prayer but how often does it take less than 30 minutes for the focus to shift and for other things to crowd it out and I work for the church so it should be easier to remember! So, as we enter this new year I challenge you all to find new ways to look for a light to refocus your eyes on Jesus. Perhaps it is setting an alarm to stop in prayer or meditation at some point of the day. Maybe it is a commitment to have a good spiritual read on your night stand and turn off that phone and turn to God as you end your day. Maybe it is to form or join a prayer group or study group once a week to further your spiritual experience by sharing it in a small group setting or maybe it is too look for a monthly opportunity to join with others in faith for a motivational or service-based experience. Our parishes and diocese offer so many ways to bring our focus to Jesus. Take advantage of them!

Now let’s circle back to the message of the shining star! If you see the light make sure that your reflection might then be the light that brings others to see it too! We are meant to share it. So, my final challenge as we kick off this year is once a month try and invite someone to share in a faith experience with you. Invite a friend to mass or to a parish event, don’t just offer to pray for someone ask if you can pray with them right then, ask someone to join your group. If you are reading this I am pretty confident that you are in some fashion already pursuing the light. Make 2025 the year you look to bring as many people as you can along with you. What could be more hopeful than that! Because after all we are….

Better Together,

Barb

Happy New Year! Excited to travel this pilgrimage of Hope with you!