By the V. Rev. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S.

Another new year has dawned, another dinner of pork and sauerkraut (at least in our part of the country) coming up, another unsullied calendar on the desk.

For all the babies born on Christmas 2021, their parents are settling in to a new reality. Friends tell me that the miracle of birth is one thing, but the reality of bringing the baby home from the hospital is quite another. It is a shift from theory to practice. And practice and practice.

In a much less dramatic way, the same thing is going to happen to that 2022 calendar. It is brand new today, but it is not going to stay that way. What we have dreamed for the New Year is going to be replaced by a reality that we cannot predict. We trust that God will be with us, helping us figure it all out.

That is something we are allowed to do day-by-day. Nowhere in the Gospels does it say that we have to know what we are doing all the time. God seems to be okay with people who stumble, take wrong turns and get lost, and at times are in need of an attitude adjustment. Even Mary, who was blessed with a special role among all women, did not have to figure it out right away. After the birth of Jesus, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” Luke 2:19.

May we also reflect on the role that God has given us. As we take our place in creation as God’s beloved sons and daughters, may we walk forward boldly if not always correctly, knowing that God is with us and will get us back on track when we get lost. It is our job to trust and hope. We do not have to know what will happen every day in 2022. We just have to begin.

Missionaries of the Precious Blood