Reflection for New Year’s Day, 2023

By Sr Mary Kay Meagher ND

HOPE: A New Year

Again, the end of a year and beginning of a new one. An exact specific New Year’s Day seems somewhat arbitrary and wrapped in our need for control, remembering, evaluation and wondering. It is not a magic day. We could pick any day and say that’s the end of this 2022 and a beginning 2023.

Put away 2022, head into 2023. It is not magic but marking the end of a time period (which truth be told we really don’t know what time is, do we?!) invites us to reflections.

What was your 2022 like? Where were the gifts and challenges?  Let’s stretch beyond our personal and individual but also reflect on our national and international gifts and challenges which began with another war (Ukraine), famine, severe weather, horrific violence across our globe as starters.

In this same period let us recall the powerful Christmas address of Pops Francis to the world on Christmas day (worth re-reading) on our connectedness, courageous call to hope by President Zelensky, the innumerable Jesus like responders with our suffering at our southern border, others working together as sisters and brothers in all parts of our world in a myriad of disasters all being focusing on our ability to moving on with hope. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God (Ps 98)

There is a song, words below which I urge you to listen to (more powerful than just reading the words). You can access it on YouTube:
https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=BwckMpR9V-Q.  It moves me in hope as we are going from here to our unknown.

Woyaye (We are Going)

We are going, heaven knows where we are going
We’ll know we’re there
We will get there, heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will

It will be hard we know
And the road will be muddy and rough
But we’ll get there, heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will

We are going, heaven knows where we are going
We’ll know we’re there.