For those of us who are still using the dictionary, the dictionary defines “resolution” (as in New Year’s resolution) as a promise to do something differently. However, when we look deeper into it, moving on to Wikipedia, Wikipedia tells us: the term “New Year’s resolution” came about around 1780s and it comes from the word “resolute” — to be determined to do something good or something different; a promise; determination. I think they can be synonymous. We can say that New Year’s resolution is our determination; our promised to do something different in the New Year.

New Year’s resolution is not only a tradition here in the United States, but is also one throughout the world. We all know that in order for us to come up with a New Year’s resolution, we pause, we look back, we think of the things that we did and the things that we didn’t do, then we come up with a resolution… and say, maybe, “In 2022, I can do more of this,” or maybe, “In 2022, I will stop doing that…”

But you and I know that the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight! To get rid of all the calories and the carbs that we had on Christmas and last night for those who had a little, safe gathering last night. That has always been a part of my New Year’s resolution: to be good, to be healthy.

But I wonder though, if we look at New Year’s resolution in a different way, the Church gives us the very first day of the year to remember Mary, the Mother of Jesus, our mother. And as we begin this new year, the Church invites us to make a New Year’s resolution: to look at our spiritual lives, our relationship with God, and how to become or continue to be a good follower of Jesus. I believe that is why the Church gives us Mary every single year as a model, not just to be reminded that she’s the Mother of God, but more importantly, she is the model of discipleship; how to follow the Lord, her son.

And so, Mary guides us into 2022 and invites us to join her as we make our New Year’s resolution. If I may suggest, perhaps our New Year’s resolution should be: how can we continue to become a good disciple of Jesus?

And in continuing to become a good disciple, we look to Mary, the model of discipleship. I’d like to suggest three things for us to consider: as we imitate and emulate the life of Mary, first, we look at Mary as a model of what it means to welcome people. We are told by Saint Luke in today’s gospel reading that after giving birth to her son, Mary had guests. The very first guest she and Joseph had were the shepherds. She didn’t know who these people were; they suddenly appeared because they had heard the good news from the angels. I’m sure Mary was startled and surprised to have guests, and yet, she welcomed them. She listened to the news that the angels brought to the shepherds which the shepherds then brought to the Holy Family.

Perhaps, as we progress into 2022, we can be like Mary: welcoming not just the people we don’t know, but to be welcoming with the people we encounter every single day. Maybe those people who are different from us; different beliefs; we welcome them into our lives. Maybe we need to look at the circle of our family or our parish community and ask ourselves, who are those that we need to welcome into the community? But in order for us to be welcoming people, we need to be like Mary ready to listen to the stories of others; to open our hearts and minds so that we can understand one another, and enter into a loving and meaningful dialogue.

The second thing to consider: Mary was a woman of faith. We look at the life of Mary from the very beginning, starting from when the Annunciation took place all the way to the Crucifixion of her son, we can see that Mary was filled with faith; always trusting in God, knowing that God is in charge. She believed and trusted in the providence of God.

As we are ushered into 2022, we need to be like Mary: that in the midst of fear and even the pandemic, Mary stands before us and invites us to be faith-filled; to always trust that God is present in our lives. Emmanuel is God’s name, “God with us” and Mary tells us to trust in that promise; “I will be with you until the end of time.”

But where did Mary get all of this faith and trust in God? So we take a look at the third virtue of Mary. Mary was a woman of prayer. Keep in mind that in the gospel today, Mary gave the name to her son, the name that was given to her by the angel, Jesus. In Aramaic and Hebrew, that means “God saves.” But biblical scholars will tell us that it can also be translated differently, it can be translated as “Lord save us” or “God save us.”

So when Mary gave the name Jesus to her son, Mary was always in the posture of prayer, praying not only for herself nor for the Holy Family, but praying for all of us. Prayer is where Mary drew her strength; it is in prayer where Mary drew courage and wisdom and gained so much peace. And so, we are invited to be like Mary, to be a prayer for people. Take time during this year, in the middle of all the business of life, to pray because it is in prayer when we are at peace with our God. It is in prayer that we are able to listen to the Spirit, that in the midst of the uproar and chaos of the pandemic, we’re able to listen to the Spirit that tells us and guides us to believe that God is in charge.

My friends, as we make our New Year’s resolution this year, let us not forget Mary. Mary is guiding us, inviting us to be like her; to be welcoming, to be prayerful, and to be peace-filled and faith-filled. In doing so, we can have a very successful resolution. May we keep that promise determined, always to be like Mary; a good and faithful follower of her son.