I started preparing for this homily with lots of questions. What are we doing here in the middle of the week? Why on the first day of the year? And why is this day the feast of Mary, Mother of God? Much later, I reframed my questions into one that I could answer: What can we learn from the Mother of God about the new year 2003?

Still I had more questions. Will 2003 be like 2002? Will the economy still be in the dumps? Will we have another sniper? Is the Church abuse problem going to get better? Will the decrease in priestly vocations begin to be resolve itself? What resolutions should I make, if any?

There are people who tell you that there is no point of making new year resolutions. I believe we must make resolutions so that we don't go blindly into 2003 making the same mistakes that we did in 2002.

Today's newspapers are full of individual and collective new year resolutions. Most of those, however, are not resolutions at all, but only wishes. What is the difference between a resolution and a wish?

A wish identifies a goal one wants to reach, while a resolution specifies the steps one will take to reach it. A wish says, "This is where I want to be," a resolution says, "This is the road I will take, this is what I will do to get there."

- The wishful person says, "I want to pass my exams this year," and the resolved person says, "I will devote an extra hour to my studies everyday in order to pass my exams."

- The wishful person says, "I will have more peace and love in my family this year," and the resolved person says, "I will spend more time with my family at table instead of rushing off to the TV, so that we get to know and understand ourselves better."

- The wishful person says, "I will live a life of union with God this year," and the resolved person says, "I will set aside this time everyday to pray and hear God's word."

The gospel today presents Mary to us as a model of that new life in Christ that everything of us wish for ourselves in the new year. Mary was prepared to do something to realize this goal.

When the shepherds went to adore the Child Jesus in the manger, they told all that the angels had said to them. "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart." Later, after the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, we are told that "His mother treasured all these things in her heart." Mary was a woman who valued the word of God, who treasured it, and made time to meditate and ponder it.

Mary found the word of God both in divine revelation (the angels' words to the shepherds) and in her own experiences (her encounter with her son in the temple). Similarly, God speaks to us today through divine revelation (e.g. the Bible and the teaching and preaching of the Church) as well as through our personal experiences, if only we made time to reflect on them as Mary did.

Whatever the situation in which we find ourselves -- a hardship, a disappointment, a decision to make -- God has a solution, an answer that is right for us. We tell God about it in prayer, but we also listen to what God has to tell us about it. Prayer is a conversation with God, but sometimes all we do is pick up the phone, read out the list of our problems to God, and hang up the phone without listening to hear what God has to say to us.

Today, resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure God's word, and to ponder it in our hearts. Then, we shall be able to realize our new year resolution of a new life in union with God.