The Word Was, Is, Will Be

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas 

Beth DeCristofaro

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

Piety

Thank you God, Father, Son and Spirit, for your overflowing gift of life.  May I in this New Year seek your flowing peace and vitality rather than my own time-limited and dim preoccupations.  May all I do give glory to You and reflect your presence to the world.  With your help and in your name I pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.

Study

Making New Year’s resolutions can be an exercise in sure letdown.  By week two at best, if I remember what my resolution is at all, I realize that I broke or neglected it several times.  Then I tend to just feel guilty, lacking in faith or useless.  In more recent years I have found that “resolutions” or commitments are better realized in the liturgical seasons of Lent and Advent, times of preparation, journey and seeking.  Within the prayers, community and Scripture readings of the Church, I discover guidance, support, and inspiration rather than self-recrimination.

Was it God’s NEW resolution to create?  Fr. Ed Hays’s image is splendid: 

In the beginning, Lord God,
You alone existed: eternally one
yet pregnant in the fullness of unity.

Full to overflowing,
You, Father of All Life, exploded outward
in a billion bits and pieces.
Your Words became flesh …

   (from Canticle of Creation, Prayers for the Domestic Church)

A Blessed New Year to Each and All. 

Action

Resolve to seek God in all things and persons – what do I see each day that brings me closer to God?  If something does not, resolve to leave it behind after, with humility and love, examining it again so that I do not miss a God-presence, a bit of God, that I have over looked.   Does what I say, do, pray, give glory to God or to me?