ON HAVING A BLESSED 

NEW YEAR

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “On Having a Blessed New Year.”

Isn’t that we want for our family and our world for this New Year: blessings.

BAPTISM

One of the nicest blessings I have as a priest is to put a blessing on a new born baby or a newly married couple: blessings.

It’s also a blessing at times to put a last blessing on someone who is dying.

This past year a moment that stands out is being called one afternoon to a give the last rites to someone who was dying. The caller said, “No rush! You can come anytime in the next week or so.” For some reason I said, “I can come down right now!”  I did. The family was there. The person who was dying was conscious and talking. We said all the prayers and I blessed the man and right then and there he died. Woo. It was a blessing that I went down when I went.

This past year I was baptizing some babies and as usual I ask the moms or dads or both to bring their baby to every one of those present as part of their group. I asked that they have each person there to put a small sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead. I mentioned out loud to pray for that baby as you’re blessing her or him - and that you also pray that you witness faith, hope and love for that child and all children you meet.   After the baptism, a mother of the father of the baby who was baptized told me she did that for her son every night since his baptism before he went to bed up to the time he went off to college. They she added that her son told her that he and his wife are going to do the same for their children.

The title of my homily is, “On Having a Blessed New Year.”

It’s not just for priests to do the blessing. Better all of us by our baptism are anointed priests, prophets and kings.

By our baptism we are called to bless our children - our food - our days - our year - as well as to bless ourselves each morning, noon and night.

How about every morning and every night for this New Year of 2013 - we bless ourselves and each other? It’s a nice morning and night prayer. It’s short and real. “God bless me or you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

THE MEANING OF BLESSINGS

The meaning of a blessing is self explanatory.

We are praying and wishing blessing - favor - health - happiness -  joy - redemption - salvation - holiness - the sacred - God - Mary - the Saints to come upon this other person or ourselves.

The English word “blessing” goes way back - some think to a Germanic custom and word. Some thing it’s a pre-Christian practice of marking another with blood - as a blessing.

The human custom of blessing another is found in all religions - wishing the best to come down upon  this other person.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s first reading gives us the so called, Aaronite Blessing - which some date back to 600 years before Christ if not earlier.

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord let his face shine upon you,

and be gracious to you!

The Lord look upon you kindly

and give you peace!

I remember reading somewhere that they found a silver amulet in an archeological dig in Israel. The silver piece had a hole in for a string. It would go around a neck. This specific metal piece - was very delicate - wrap around metal - like you get a piece of wrap around ham as a hors d oeuvres. When the specialists flattened it out - they saw writing on it. It was the Aaronite Blessing.  I rechecked this out on line this afternoon. Sure enough - that’s the date - checked out by NASA scientists as well. It’s listed as one of our earliest Jewish scripture writings - dating it some 400 years before the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Today’s second reading from Galatians spells out that we have been blessed by being adopted as children of God. How many times in our have we been talking to someone who tells us the story of adopting a baby or being adopted themselves. What a blessing! Well, pause at St. Paul’s words here. We have been  adopted by God as children of God.  I hope we all see that as a great blessing. We can cry out that God is Our Father. We are in the will. As Paul tells us in today’s second reading, we are heirs. We’re in the will of God.

Today’s gospel tells us one of the Nativity stories - that the shepherds were the first to be blessed in seeing the new born baby in the manger in Bethlehem.

One of the blessings of Christmas for me has always been to see parents take their little one’s up the crib before or after Mass and have them experience what the shepherds experienced: witnessing the Gospel scene of Jesus as a baby in the manger as Luke describes the first Christmas in his Gospel.

CONCLUSION

Enough. The title of my homily is, “On Having a Blessed New Year.”

My message is to bless each other during this new year and to ask God to bless all of us so as to have a blessed new year - and then to work at making it a Happy New Year. Amen.