Sisters of the Incarnate Word
                 and Blessed Sacrament
                        Victoria, Texas

                       Reflections for the New Year 2021
                          Sister Stephana Marbach IWBS

The First Reading for the Celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist on January 1, 2021, is Numbers 6:22-27.  In this Scripture passage, which is so appropriately chosen for the beginning of the New Year, we read: The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites.  Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you!  The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!  The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!  So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
The beginning of a new year always merits some reflection on the graced moments of the past year.  It is not so much about making resolutions as it is about reviewing our life, our personal growth, and our response to God’s invitations during the past year. The New Year comes with a sense of new beginnings and of looking to the future. We are challenged to live each day, each hour, and each moment as a new beginning, as a gift!
With a global pandemic bringing distress, fear, economic hardships, illness, and deaths, 2020 has taken a toll on our lives.  Trusting in God, let us not look back with regret on this past year.  Rather, let us remind each other that God has been with us and is with us right here, right now, blessing us, keeping us, letting his face shine upon us and giving us peace as promised by God to Moses and all his descendants.
As the years have gone by, my resolutions have become fewer each New Year.  In 2020 I actually had committed to only one resolution: to be totally present in the moment.  It is the practice of using the gift of time, called the “sacrament of the present moment”, as coined by Jesuit Father Jean Pierre de Caussade in the 1700’s.  In 2021 I plan to be faithful and focused on this one resolution which I believe will enhance and deepen my spiritual journey.  I will choose to live each day as a sacrament (as a gift) enabling me to see, hear, taste, and touch grace – the goodness of God’s presence in our world.  I find choosing a mantra (a word, short prayer or aspiration) to recall God’s presence throughout the day to be very helpful. God is always present with us; are we always present to God?  In revering the present moment, and cooperating with God’s grace here and now, we are formed and fashioned for the everlasting kingdom of light and goodness.  My prayer for anyone reading this reflection is that you may experience God’s blessing of peace as you strive to be aware of God’s presence throughout the New Year.
 

We, Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, are called to be authentic, contemplative women and stewards of the earth, who bring a compassionate listening presence to our world by standing in solidarity with the voiceless, the vulnerable, those affected by violence, and those hungering for spiritual and moral witness.

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