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As our mother, Mary cares about every aspect of our lives, past, present, and future. She cares about our joys and sorrows, successes and failures, dreams and desires. She cares about where we have been and where we are going. She cares about who we are and who we would like to become. She cares about the seemingly insignificant details of our daily routines and the huge life events. She cares about all that is important to us and even about what is not so important. She cares about everything.

Today we celebrate the Epiphany. The popular carol “We Three Kings” echoes in our heads and exotic images of the East swirl around us. It’s easy to distance ourselves from the story of the Epiphany, to see it as a movie set or a grand opera. But our tradition and our Scriptures remind us that we, too, have a part to play in the great story of salvation.

This wonder-inspiring power of the night sky is the backdrop to the traditional picture of the Christ coming into the world and also the light that makes the night sky not so dark and blank. The star serves as a companion image to the solstice—light appearing in the dark. And so it is a perfect image for the spirit of Christmas, a time when we are particularly overtaken by darkness and in need of light.

As the Christmas season draws to a close, we reflect not so much on the birth of Jesus as on the impact that birth had on all those who heard of it—the shepherds, the magi, the villagers, and us. By taking on our human reality, God shows us how to move beyond our ordinary routines into lives that can make a difference in our world.

Pope Francis reminds us that creation—including the weather—is a gift to be celebrated, not something simply to be controlled and altered. We lose our sense of wonder in nature when we become too absorbed in the structures of everyday life. 

Perhaps we’re a bit relieved that Christmas is over for another year. But perhaps we discover that something has changed in us because of an encounter, a gift, a new insight into the meaning of the incarnation. We can keep a little bit of that with us through the coming year and let it bring light and peace to our everyday lives. Our journey with God doesn’t end with the Christmas season. Jesus is forever, not just for Christmas.

Peace begins in the heart and moves outward. If we’re not at peace within ourselves, conflict will find its way into our daily interactions with others. If our families and neighborhoods are not at peace, turmoil in our cities will spread. As we begin the new year, make a commitment to focus on peace through prayer, through meditation, through working for justice.

“Mary gave a human face to the eternal Word, so that all of us can contemplate him.” — Pope Francis

On this New Year’s Day, think of the faces in your life that bring you peace and joy. Say a special prayer for those people. And on this day of prayer for world peace, ask the Lord to smile in a special way on those areas of our world that most need the light of peace to shine on them.

Holy people are always  ready to show creation’s inner connections. Knowing such people draws us closer to God, whose goodness was revealed through the life of Francis of Assisi.

We may be tempted to think that Francis lived at a time when holiness was easier. An honest look at his life reveals a very different and grittier story. Through God’s grace, Francis learned to make the most of the hand that was dealt to him. He used his talents as best he could, but he knew, as Saint Paul had told the Corinthian Christians centuries before, “God gives the growth.”