{"id":4275,"date":"2016-04-28T19:53:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T19:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2016-04-28T19:53:30","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T19:53:30","slug":"a-blessing-for-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/a-blessing-for-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blessing for the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"blessing\"<\/a><\/h5>\n
January 1, 2006<\/h5>\n

Numbers 6:22-27<\/h3>\n

In some parts of our country and many places throughout the world there is a custom which takes place on January 1st<\/sup>.\u00a0 In those localities children are expected to return home and receive a blessing from their parents.\u00a0 It is a lovely custom, mothers and fathers placing their hands on their children\u2019s head whether their children are 5 years, 15 years or 50 years old.\u00a0 This custom is an invitation to you and me to begin this New Year with a blessing.<\/p>\n

This certainly seems to be the mind of the church because on this first day of the New Year our first reading is a blessing, the famous blessing of Aaron from the book of Numbers.\u00a0 This is an ancient Jewish blessing.\u00a0 We can trace it back some 800 years before Christ\u2019s birth.\u00a0 The blessing is simple and strong: \u201cMay the Lord bless you and keep you.\u00a0 May the Lord\u2019s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.\u00a0 May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.\u201d The blessing is filled with powerful imagery: shining one\u2019s face on someone is a way of expressing delight on the person who is beheld.\u00a0 This blessing tells us that God delights in us and in our presence.\u00a0 Lifting up one\u2019s countenance to another person is a way of saying that the gaze creates a bond.\u00a0 This prayer tells us that there is a bond between us and God that cannot be broken.\u00a0 This blessing of Aaron is a beautiful blessing, and we should make it our own.<\/p>\n

In order to do this, I would like to clarify what a blessing is and what it is not.\u00a0 I think many of us have a mechanical and perhaps a magical notion of a blessing.\u00a0 When we bless a person, a house, an automobile, a religious medal, we do not believe we are changing that person, place or thing\u2014as if before the words were spoken that thing was unblessed. Nor do we believe that a blessing prayer changes God\u2014as if before the words were spoken God was unwilling to be gracious or give us peace.\u00a0 We do not believe that our blessing prayers change God or the person, places or things we bless.\u00a0 What we believe blessings do is give thanks to God for the goodness that is already present in a person, place or thing. Blessings celebrate what our world is and who we are.<\/p>\n

And who are we?\u00a0 Today\u2019s second reading makes it clear.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cYou are no longer a slave, but a child and if a child, also an heir through God.\u00a0 Paul says we are children of God. We are those who are to inherit eternal life.\u00a0 Now, it was not our blessing prayers that made us so. God made us so.\u00a0 We are already blessed because God created us and saved us and made us God\u2019s own.\u00a0 Every time we bless one another we celebrate who we are and we remind one another we are truly children of God.<\/p>\n

So this is why it is a good idea to begin 2006 with a blessing.\u00a0 To begin this year by reminding our self who we are, that we have been blessed with life, with salvation and a future. We need to remember that we are the people who believe that God will be gracious to us, that God will give us peace.\u00a0 We are children of God. How important it is for us to claim our status and our dignity as we enter this New Year.\u00a0 If we look forward to the next 12 months with fear and pessimism, we must ask ourselves whether such negative feelings result from our failure to claim who God has made us to be.<\/p>\n

Have we made mistakes? Of course we have.\u00a0 Have we sinned? Yes we have.\u00a0 But those mistakes and sins are not who we are.\u00a0 Have others hurt us or rejected us?\u00a0 Perhaps. But that hurt and rejection does not define our status.\u00a0 Are there losses in our life, people who have been taken from us, opportunities we have missed?\u00a0 Very likely.\u00a0 But none of those things negate who God has made us to be.\u00a0 So if we can claim who we are, who God has made us to be, if we can go forward believing in our goodness and God\u2019s presence with us, 2006 can be a very good year.<\/p>\n

So let us begin this New Year with a blessing.\u00a0 Let me suggest to parents that they consider blessing their children as the year begins.\u00a0 It can be done very simply, placing your hands on children\u2019s head, saying a prayer in your own words or using the blessing of Aaron from the first reading. Perhaps it could be done before dinner as your family gathers today.\u00a0 But take that moment so that your children know that you give thanks to God for them and that they have a dignity and a status as children of God.<\/p>\n

And since there may be some of here whose parents are not be close at hand, I would like to end this homily today with a blessing in which we can all share. So I ask you please to stand.\u00a0 Please remain standing after the blessing in silence until the liturgy continues. As I pray this blessing I ask that you to open your hearts to your true status as Children of God, that you allow yourselves to see the delight that God takes in your presence, and that you bring that dignity into the New Year.<\/p>\n

Let us bow our heads and pray for God\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay God bless you and keep you.<\/p>\n

May the Lord\u2019s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.<\/p>\n

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blessings give thanks to God for the goodness that is already present in a person, place or thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":4276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","resize-featured-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2016\/12\/blessing.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}