January 1, 2017
All across the world the standard way of marking the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year is for people to set off fireworks, tearing apart the night sky with a blaze of light and an explosion of noise. The origin of this tradition is from a primitive pagan Roman culture. The Romans believed that the turning of the year was a vulnerable moment, a changeover that had to be watched carefully lest witches, ghosts and demons slip through the gap between the years and get up to all kinds of mischief. The antidote, they believed, was to make as much noise as possible, to scare away any wandering demon, ghost or witch, who might think of trying to slip through that gap. Strange as it may sound, this tradition has survived to the modern times Another tradition on New Year are new year resolutions. For weight watchers after series of failed attempts, this may be a time to begin again with a firm resolve to lose weight. Some other people may resolve to get more organized, spend less and save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, spend more time with family, pray more, go to Mass twice or more in a week, do something special with your family every week; etc. One thing about these resolutions is that often they may be difficult to keep till the end of the year. Another traditional thing on New Year is the traditional greeting of the New Year: Happy New Year! This is a wonderful thing to do but it would be a mistake, of course, to expect perfect happiness in any year in this life. The innate, insatiable drive we all have for perfect happiness can only be satisfied in the next life. It would also be a mistake also to identify happiness with pleasure. Pleasure and happiness are not synonyms. They are not one and the same thing. In fact, pleasure can be the cause of very great unhappiness. It would be a mistake also to think that happiness consists in amassing possessions. Unfortunately, we begin by possessing things and end up with things possessing us. It is the desire, the craving for things we do not have that causes so much unhappiness. We are supposed to love people and use things. In our affluent society, we turn that around and love things and use people to get the things we love. When we look into the cave in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born we may understand what true happiness consists of. Look into the cave. There is none of those things in which we seek happiness. There are no riches, no fame, no power, no conveniences, no pleasure, nothing but an empty, cold cave on the outskirts of town. We see there the new born baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph filled with wonder, amazement and joy on this first day of the New Year not only do we observe the three traditions mentioned above but let us ask for the grace to know Jesus more intimately, love him more ardently and follow him more closely so that this may be a truly Happy New Year! I The triple blessings mentioned in the first reading of today's liturgy (Num.6:24-26): "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” were entrusted by God, through Moses, to Aaron and his sons, that is, to the priests of the people of Israel. It is a triple blessing filled with light, radiating from the repetition of the name of God, the Lord, and from the image of his face. In fact, in order to be blessed, we have to stand in God’s presence, take his Name upon us and remain in the cone of light that issues from his Face, in a space lit up by his gaze, diffusing grace and peace. Let us seek the Face of God continuously this new year and he will continually fill our lives this year with his grace and peace.
Fr Sylvester Ajunwa, PhD