It's New Year's Day - Why Am I Supposed to Go to Mass?

Besides offering this new year to the Father in union with Jesus (the best start to a year imaginable), today's liturgical feast - Mary, the Mother of God - gives us a whole lot to contemplate! The God Who brought this universe into existence, who ordained the orbit of our planets before a single atom was formed, took flesh inside a young woman in Palestine. She was the most beautiful creature He ever created - although those living around her day-in and day-out didn't see it. "The LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). He did not bring her into being to act as a home for a brief nine months, but to be His Mother - the person to whom He would entrust Himself, whole and entire. She was not simply the person from whom He took the flesh and blood He used to redeem the world.  She nursed and warmed Him with her body. She was His diaper-changer, roommate, nutritionist and chef, educator, sounding board, prayer partner and confidant.  She was His Mother - God has really, truly become a man! Jesus, our God, truly has a Mother - a Mother He formed for Himself!  And not for Himself alone.  As He said to John, our representative there at the foot of the Cross, "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27).

Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, may the Holy Spirit make you our companion, our most faithful companion, as we set out to journey through this next year. We give ourselves entirely into your arms, as the Incarnate Word Himself did, knowing that we shall find Him there, nestled against your heart. May His Spirit flood our hearts with that same love with which He flooded yours. Amen. 
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Bonus:  Today is also the 8th Day of Christmas, the day we celebrate Jesus circumcision (entry into God's covenant with Israel) and His naming by St. Joseph.

Thank you to "On Call with Wendy Wiese" for this image!

 

Mary's Assumption - the QUINTESSENTIAL Catholic Feast

It really is, just think about it.  By defining the dogma of Mary's Assumption and celebrating it as a Holy Day of Obligation, the Church draws together all the most magnificent elements of our Faith:

The Trinity - into whose life Mary was bodily inserted
Jesus' Resurrection - shared with His Blessed Mother, and eventually with all of us
Salvation - begun in us purely by the grace of God, and brought to perfection through our lifelong cooperation
The Goodness of the Body - that it is not at odds with living a "spiritual life," but is destined for glory
Sacred Tradition - by which we have explicit knowledge of Mary's assumption
Sacred Scripture - by which we have implicit knowledge of her assumption (the image of Rev.12:1-2)
Papal Infallibility - which cemented our knowledge of it
The Communion of Saints - Mary being its most magnificent member and interceding for the Church on earth and in purgatory
The Eucharist - by which we give thanks to God and unite ourselves to Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, just like Mary.