All Things New: Weekly Message for 01-11-2022

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19.

“And he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new…Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” Revelation 21:5.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Another year has turned, and we find ourselves in 2022. There’s always something mixed about a new year: a cocktail, perhaps, of nostalgia and excitement and anxiety and hope. We want something new. We want a fresh start. But what’s really new? Is there any freshness we can actually trust? 

Less than a month ago we celebrated Christmas, the living memorial of the day God burst into the world in an unimaginable way in Bethlehem. “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed” (Wisdom 18:14-15). In Christ, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. There are no commonplace lives – we are all caught up in the great drama of salvation. Jesus declares in John 5:17 “My father is working still, and I am working.” This applies to every person, to every situation. There are no exceptions. He is trustworthy and true. 

What does the Lord ask of us?

To pay attention.

To linger in his love and to praise his works: “For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work” (Psalm 92:4). And as we do this, we start to notice something extraordinary. We begin to praise him for all his works – for everything he permits – for what we understand and what we do not, for what we like, and for what we may wish had never happened.  Everything is embraced by his love. Everything is washed in the Spirit of God. Somehow things are the same… yet altered.

And then we too are able to perceive, with all the friends of God on earth and in heaven, the One who makes all things new.

May God bless you in this new year,

Fr. John Pietropaoli