SPEAKER_00: On this first day of a new year, the church does something both simple but very profound.
SPEAKER_00: While the world rushes ahead, setting goals, making plans, turning the page, starting a new chapter, the church pauses.
SPEAKER_00: She places a woman before us, a mother, and she gives her the boldest and most daring title that she has ever defended, Mary, Mother of God, the Theotokos.
SPEAKER_00: This is not sentimentality.
SPEAKER_00: This is theological.
SPEAKER_00: The child Mary carried in her womb is not merely a wise teacher, a moral example, one who will be the founder of a new religion.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's the eternal son of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God.
SPEAKER_00: And because the one she bore is truly God, the church insists without hesitation and without compromise that Mary is truly the mother of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why does this matter?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because everything we believe about Jesus is protected here.
SPEAKER_00: If Mary is not the mother of God, then Jesus is not fully God.
SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus is not fully God, then our salvation is reduced to inspiration rather than redemption.
SPEAKER_00: Mary stands at the crossroads of truth, not drawing attention to herself, but safeguarding the truth of her son.
SPEAKER_00: Both her motherhood is not confined to Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: It unfolds across the entire mystery of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: From Nazareth to Cana, from Cana to Calvary, from Calvary to the upper room, and then from the upper room into the life of the church and into our very lives.
SPEAKER_00: At Nazareth, Mary gave birth to the word, the flesh becomes word.
SPEAKER_00: She teaches Jesus to speak, to pray the Psalms, to trust the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The humanity of Christ, the humanity that saves us, was formed under her loving gaze.
SPEAKER_00: God entrusted his son to a woman.
SPEAKER_00: At Cana, she teaches the church her first lesson in discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: What does she tell us?
SPEAKER_00: She says, Do whatever he tells you.
SPEAKER_00: She does not center herself.
SPEAKER_00: She points to the obedience, to trust, to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Marian devotion that does not lead us to a deeper obedience to Christ is not a Marian devotion at all.
SPEAKER_00: And at Calvary, her motherhood reaches its deepest expression.
SPEAKER_00: She does not flee in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: She does not flee in fear.
SPEAKER_00: She stands firm, watching.
SPEAKER_00: She consents again.
SPEAKER_00: This time is not to giving birth, but to letting go, to accepting the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: And from the cross, Jesus spoke words that changes history.
SPEAKER_00: From the cross, Jesus tells us, Behold your mother.
SPEAKER_00: This is your mother.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, Mary becomes the mother of the beloved disciple, and therefore the mother of all who would follow her son.
SPEAKER_00: This is not symbolic.
SPEAKER_00: It's not honorary.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about real life.
SPEAKER_00: Mary is a mother in the order of grace.
SPEAKER_00: She intercedes, she accompanies, she forms Christ within us, just as once she formed him within her womb.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the church begins every new year under her gaze, because we do not enter the future alone.
SPEAKER_00: As we begin 2026, many of us come with mixed hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Gratitude for the past year, for all that we have learned and all that we have endured.
SPEAKER_00: Many may have regret for what we have lost or mistakes that have been made, anxieties about what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_00: The temptation at the start of a new year is always the same.
SPEAKER_00: To believe that the change will come through sheer effort, better habits, a stronger resolve, more discipline.
SPEAKER_00: But the gospel gives us a deeper truth.
SPEAKER_00: Real transformation only comes through God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Mary teaches us this.
SPEAKER_00: She did not save the world by strategy or strength.
SPEAKER_00: She saves the world by receiving God, by allowing Christ to take flesh within her.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the question she places before us today.
SPEAKER_00: Will Christ take flesh in you this year in a very concrete way?
SPEAKER_00: Not in a vague way, but in a very intentional way.
SPEAKER_00: Through prayer, through fasting, through repentance, obedience, trust.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Marian devotion becomes demanding.
SPEAKER_00: In the best sense of the word, the word, Mary will not allow us to remain superficial.
SPEAKER_00: She draws us into silence, she draws us into depth, into fidelity, into daily conversion.
SPEAKER_00: So on this new year, I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: As your pastor, as your brother in Christ, do not let this year be spiritually accidental.
SPEAKER_00: Make one resolution that will outlast every other one.
SPEAKER_00: Pray the rosary daily.
SPEAKER_00: Daily.
SPEAKER_00: Not because it's easy, not because it's sentimental, but because it's powerful.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: John Paul II said that praying the rosary is learning to see Christ through Mary's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Mystery by mystery, she schools us.
SPEAKER_00: She schools our hearts, teaching us how to face joy and sorrow, suffering and glory as she did.
SPEAKER_00: The rosary forms disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The rosary forces us to step back, to take a deep breath, and to pause and understand what we're meditating on.
SPEAKER_00: The rosary has the power to anchor families, converts hearts, it changes history quietly.
SPEAKER_00: We have to understand that Mary is not the treasure.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is.
SPEAKER_00: So today, on this new year, as it begins, do what the church has always done.
SPEAKER_00: Place yourself in her care, but do it intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: Entrust your family to her.
SPEAKER_00: Entrust your fears, your hopes.
SPEAKER_00: She will not replace Christ, but she will bring you to him.
SPEAKER_00: And she will teach you how to say the one word that opens the future, the one word that will allow grace to work, the one word that can make all of 2026 holy.
SPEAKER_00: And that word is yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord, I desire to do your will.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.