Rev. Donahue: Happy New Year, everyone.

Audience: Happy New Year, everyone.

Rev. Donahue: And to all of our friends at home, who are celebrating this Eucharist with us, here at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, we wish you a very happy and a blessed New Year. Now I have a question for you. What was the most dangerous place in the world at the strike of midnight last night, as we began the new year? The most dangerous place in the world. Where?

The most dangerous place in the world was in the great city of Rome, the eternal city, because the Romans have a tradition that they do at midnight on New Year’s Eve, starting the new year. What the Romans do is they open their windows and anything that they wanna get rid of, anything that they wanna discard, an old toaster, an old blender, maybe even a microwave, they throw it right out the window. So, if you’re walking along the streets of Rome at midnight, watch out, because you might be clocked by an old clock. It’s true. They get rid of all the old, so that they can begin the new.

Today we celebrate the feast day of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The mother of us all. And Mary began all things new when she said, “Yes”. When she accepted the invitation of God, the Father, who sent an angel, his messenger, to her. “Will you be the mother of my son?” And Mary says, “Yes,” and that “yes” changes all of humanity forever. All of us have been affected by Mary’s yes, her willingness to accept the will of God in her life, to trust in God’s word to her. The word that will be born and conceived in her womb and born into the world as new life for all of us.

Mary, who is the first of all of the disciples, teaches us to affirm our love for God. Our willingness to do the will of God, to say yes to what it is that God asks of us and to trust in God as Mary did. One of the great saints of our church says, “Look to Mary. Look to Mary and see how much you are loved by God.” Let us look to Mary this day and see how much we are loved by God.