Children, it is the last hour…1 John 2:18
In the beginning was the Word…All things came to be through him.
John 1:1,3
During the Christmas season, we frequently encounter the word “Peace.” Tonight, we leave the past behind and look toward a new beginning; one of the constant hopes of the human heart is a new year of peace.
On the first day the New Year, as we observe the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, the first words we will hear from God in our liturgical celebrations are words of blessing; “May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace” Nm 6:26. A good question to ask ourselves: What brings peace and what destroys it?
The source of every act that does not foster peace is selfishness. The antidote we find in today’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word…and all things came to be through him and without him, nothing came to be.” The Creator made everything good – very good! Christ took on human flesh to shed light on that truth, that all creation is already in Christ (it would cease to exist otherwise) and is, consequently, held in the loving gaze of the Creator.
Our mission is to surrender to the Light of Truth, that is Christ Jesus, to melt the hardness of our hearts so that the light can shine through us and restore to all humanity the perception of its beloved state in the eyes of the Creator, which dissolves all selfishness under the Creator’s loving gaze, a gaze that restores trust and dissolves our perception of others as “different,” “not of our company;” to be feared, avoided, disarmed and conquered.