31 December 2019
The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
There are two themes in today’s readings that should help me make my New Year’s resolution.
1st. As I appear before “the Word made Flesh”, I have two options: I can refuse to accept him and stand in the “darkness”, or I can accept his power to become a true child of God.
2nd. I must beware of the anti-Christs, brothers and sisters who have wandered from the fold, the heretics, who teach doctrines different from those of the Catholic Church. The “anointing from the Spirit”, John mentions, enables me to hold fast in faith to the truth, and to understand with my reason the intellectual basis for the Magisterium.
Result: I shall spend time today reviewing what graces I received during the past year: “all things came to be through him.” The Lord was present in those things that evolved in my everyday life and in the lives of those about me: “we saw his glory, full of grace and truth.” So, he carried out the Incarnation in a visible, tangible manner for me on a daily basis.
Resolve: After prayerful consideration of these two points and on the conclusion, I shall ask the Holy Spirit to anoint me each day throughout the coming year. And I shall do so in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was so specially anointed and whose soul magnified the Lord.
Would it be possible to make a better New Year’s Resolution? I think not at all!