The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God 1/1/2014; 6:00 PM and 8:30 AM

The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God—1/1/2014; 6:00 PM and 8:30 AM

Here is my Garmin Nuvi, my GPS device. Aren’t these things wonderful? All you have to do is to type in the address of where you want to go, and up pops the route and how long it will take it take you to get there. Sometimes, though, this little device can lead you on a very interesting route. A case in point: a couple years ago, my priest-friend Fr. Dennis Port and I were on vacation in Nebraska. We decided to visit a state park that was part of the Oregon Trail, a Pony Express stop, and a place where Wild Bill Hickok killed three men. So we got out our GPS device and programmed it for that state park. As we got closer to that park, we could see that we were going to be turning off the main highway in eleven miles, but I had the paper map in hand which didn’t show any road in eleven miles. I remember telling Dennis, “I have no idea where this thing is taking us, but it’s not on the map.” Sure enough, in eleven miles, the GPS had us turn onto a gravel road which then turned in to a dirt road. It struck us how far in the sticks we were when our dirt road intersected another dirt road. Well, eventually we got back to a regular paved road and visited that state park. To a satellite, I guess a dirt road looks the same as a paved interstate highway.However, my friend Dennis and I also learned something about GPS devices, that they will take you on the most direct route which isn’t always the easiest route.

In our Scripture readings today, we hear St. Paul remind us that God sent his Son into the world so that we might become his adopted sons and daughters and that, because of that status He lavished on us, we are not slaves but actual children of God making us heirs of God’s eternal life. We also hear of Mary’s experience of the wonderful events surrounding Jesus’ birth and of how “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” The birth of Jesus among us and the effect of that birth, that is, our having become sons and daughters of God, are products of God’s love for us, and that love is the spiritual GPS which is to guide us through this new year.

On the day after Christmas, our Church celebrates the Feast of St. Stephen. As part of the breviary, the Liturgy of Hours, on that day, the Church uses a quote from St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, a bishop and theologian of the latter part of the fifth century and the beginning of the sixth century. The following words from St. Fulgentius are applied to St. Stephen and to the love he lived: Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end. My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together. And again, He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end.

As the sons and daughters of God that we are, keeping the truth of our sonship and daughterhood in mind, as well asreflecting on it in our hearts as did Mary, may we let love be the spiritual GPS that guides us everyday throughout this new year. Like with Stephen, that love, that spiritual GPS, isn’t always going to be the easiest route, but it will be the most direct route as we share the Father’s love with those we meet along that route.