As this year ends many people are saying, "The year went by so quickly! Where did the time go?" In some ways we are fortunate to be able to say that because we all know people who have suffered the loss of a loved one, or the loss of health or are experiencing extreme poverty. There are people who have experienced destruction in their lives, the loss of homes or jobs. In the bigger picture there are people who have been displaced by war or their lives have been shattered by terrorist bombings. These people are glad to be rid of 2009 and they hope for a better 2010. For them and for our loved ones we not only read and listen to the first reading from the Book of Numbers, we make it our prayer for 2010. We pray for people whose names we know and who are close to our hearts. We also pray it for the anonymous ones whose names only God knows, remembers and cherishes. May God, "…bless you and keep you…be gracious to you …look upon you kindly and give you peace." We ask a blessing from God as we pray this reading. And more. We pray that we might be an instrument God uses to put flesh and blood on the blessing, so that others will experience God blessing them because of our presence in their lives.

Today is the feast of "Mary, Mother of God." At Christmas we celebrate the Word of God made flesh. Today we celebrate God blessing us through Mary, who was the means by which that Word took flesh among us. In the Gospel today we hear of the shepherds responding to the message they heard from the angels. They went in haste to Bethlehem to, "see this event that has taken place which the Lord has made known to us." But the focus of the gospel reading is less on the shepherds and more on Mary who listens to the message the angels gave the shepherds about her son. Mary reflects on what she heard "in her heart" and her response, I think, suggests a new year's resolution for us today. Many of us make resolutions about eating less, exercising more, stopping smoking etc. All well and good. But today Mary gives us another resolution. We can use her as our model; she is one who pays attention to what she hears and reflects things over in her heart. She demonstrates throughout the gospel an openness to God's Word. She is the model believer who hears the Word of God and acts on it. In the light of today's gospel possibly we could resolve that throughout this new year we will practice being better listeners. We will allow ourselves more time to reflect and respond with deliberation to the events of our lives. We might start with the scriptures themselves, determined to go to them for spiritual nourishment from God and direction for our lives. We might also consider the Christian mediation group that meets every Thursday in the chapel at 6 p.m.

Mary pondered a message she heard from lowly shepherds. In those days shepherds were considered ritually unclean and their testimony was suspect. But that did not stop Mary from paying attention to them and seriously reflecting on their message. She was a listener to the voices of the lowly and there she heard good news. We never know how God might speak in our daily lives.

Sometimes God speaks a word and the message is delivered to us: through the response of an angry child; the encouragement of a sympathetic friend; the consolation of one who sits with us in our grief; the vivid images on the evening news; or even a photograph. During the Depression photographers were hired and sent to document poverty in the land. The pictures they brought back deeply touched the nation and helped promote social legislation to help the poor, the unemployed and the elderly. People heard a "word" in those images of unemployed people, hungry children and strained families. They pondered what they "heard" and they responded by trying to alleviate the pain.

A good new year's resolution: to try to be a better listener, regardless of the person or the group who is speaking; to give what we hear a serious "pondering" by not jumping too quickly to our usual conclusions. Then to pray for the wisdom to know how to respond to what we hear. That's a bit lengthy, but you get the idea.

If we were better listeners we would experience that Jesus continues to be born in our midst. We would have the same reaction as those who first heard the message from the shepherds: we too would be "amazed." Amazed to hear the good news God still proclaims to us in the very midst of our busy lives. Those who ponder and treasure the Word in their hearts will know where and when God is speaking, even when the Word comes to us from the most unlikely sources: like dirty and breathless shepherds straight from the fields who can't wait to tell Mary and Joseph the good news they , of all people, heard from the angel.