HOMILIST: REV. FR. CLETUS IMO
Today, we stand at the doorway of a brand-new year. As we step into it, many hearts around the world are filled with mixed emotions, but for many of us in Nigeria, those emotions are especially intense. The year that has just ended has been marked by hunger, by the crushing weight of the high cost of living, by kidnappings, by bandit attacks, and by the abduction of innocent students. Many of our families lived with fear. Parents worried about their children. We wondered how to survive, how to hope, and how to keep going.
Yet, in the midst of all this, something extraordinary remains alive in us: a deep resilience, a fierce faith, and a joy that refuses to die. Even after a year of hardship, we still gather to pray and still say, “God will make a way. ” We still thank God for life, for our family, and for our community. We still believe that a new year can bring new mercy.
It is into this mixture of worry and hope, fear and faith, and pain and perseverance that the Church places two great gifts in our hands at the start of the year: the blessing of God and the motherhood of Mary. These two gifts are meant to shape the way we begin the year.
When God spoke the blessing we heard in the first reading, “The Lord bless you and keep you….” (Num 6:22-27), He was speaking to people who were not yet settled, not yet secure, and not yet at peace. Israel was still in the wilderness. They had left Egypt, but they had not yet reached the Promised Land. They lived in tents, moving from place to place, surrounded by uncertainty.
Food was scarce. Enemies were near, and their hearts were often anxious, fearful, and tired.
In other words, they were a people who did not know what tomorrow would bring. And it is precisely into that fear, that fragility, that uncertainty, that God commands Moses to bless them. He says, “Tell Aaron to speak these words over My people. Tell them I am with them. Tell them my face is turned toward them. Tell them I will give them peace.”
God gives this blessing to assure them that his presence, protection, and peace will accompany them every step of the journey. He does not wait until Israel is strong, settled, and confident. He blesses them while they are still in the wilderness.
And that is why this blessing is so powerful for us today. We enter this new year feeling exactly as Israel did. Some of us come with joy, but some come with fear, exhaustion, and questions about the future. All of us come from a year marked by hardship, where hunger, insecurity, and violence have weighed heavily on our families. It is not surprising that some of us step into the new year wondering: Will things get better? Will God help us? Will peace ever come?
So, the Church, in her wisdom, chooses this first reading to answer the questions of our hearts. At the very start of a new year, when we do not know what lies ahead, when we carry hopes and worries, when we wonder what this year will bring, God steps in and says, “Let me begin the year for you with choice blessings to accompany you. This blessing is God’s way of saying, “You are not entering this year alone. I am walking with you.”
From the treasury of the Gospel, the Church gives us Mary, the Mother of God, as the perfect companion for this moment. When the shepherds arrived in Bethlehem and told Mary and Joseph everything the angels had revealed, Saint Luke gives us a quiet but powerful detail of how “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Why does Mary not speak? Why does she not rush to explain, to interpret, or to react? Because Mary understands something we often forget, namely, the mysteries of God are received before they are explained.
As the model disciple, she does not rush to interpret God’s actions. She does not pretend to understand everything immediately. She simply holds everything—the joy, the confusion, the wonder, the fear—and brings it before God in the silence of her heart. She knows that God’s work unfolds slowly, and the right response is not chatter but contemplation. In this, she shows us that spiritual maturity is not measured by how quickly we speak, but by how deeply we listen.
As we can see, Mary believes that God is at work even when we cannot see the full picture. Her heart becomes the place where God’s mysteries are held, not solved. This becomes even clearer on the eighth day, when the child is given the name Jesus: “God saves.” Mary does not choose the name. Joseph does not choose the name. God does. This teaches us that God names the future. God defines the story and leads the path.
We can learn a lot from these two readings about how to begin the new year and how to live it well. We often start the year with frantic activity, with resolutions we cannot keep, and with the pressure to change everything overnight. But the Church gently reminds us today that the best way to begin is not with activity or resolutions, but with a listening heart that is open and that receives.
In a world filled with anxiety, noise, and uncertainty, God’s blessing through Moses becomes a lifeline. It is a living promise that speaks directly to us today.
It reminds us that God’s first word over our lives is not judgment—it is blessing. He speaks a new name over us as blessed, beloved, redeemed, chosen, and sent. This blessing assures us that God is personally involved in our affairs and offers us the peace every human heart longs for.
Today, the Church invites us to take Mary, not only as our mother but as our companion on the journey through 2026. She does not know what the year ahead will bring, either—but she knows who walks with her. Mary invites us to begin the year with her because she always leads us to her son. She never keeps anything for herself. To begin the year with Mary means to begin with her attitude: a heart that listens before it speaks, trusts before it understands, and says “yes” before it sees the full picture.
If we thus begin this year with Mary and let her walk with us, she will teach us how to pray when we feel empty, how to trust when the path is unclear, and how to surrender when we want control. She will help us notice God’s quiet movements in our families, our parish, and our own hearts. And if we allow her to guide us in these small, daily ways, then by the end of the year, we will discover that we have grown closer to Jesus without even realizing it because Mary never keeps us for herself. She always guides us toward her son.
Mary teaches us what it truly means to look toward God. We pray, we say we trust, and we speak of faith—but so often we want everything here and now. We rush and push. We try to control outcomes. We act with haste instead of waiting for the Lord. But Mary shows us another way. She teaches us to pause, listen, and let God lead. She reminds us that God’s work unfolds in God’s time, not ours. Even James tells us that real faith is not frantic but patient, steady, and surrendered.
So, today, on this first day of the year, let us place our lives, our families, our hopes, and even our fears into the hands of the Mother of God. Let us allow God to bless us, and let us allow Mary to guide us. Let God’s promise be the first word spoken over our families, our hopes, and our fears. And let Mary walk beside us, pray for us, and teach us how to treasure God’s work even when we do not understand it, not just today, but every day of this new year. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and throughout this year. Amen.
