During New Year's Day Mass, Bishop Deeley reflects on the need to keep God in our lives

With God in our lives, all things are possible. That was the message Bishop Robert Deeley shared with parishioners during a New Year’s Day Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

“As we begin a new year, it is an opportunity to resolve to be more conscious of the fact that Jesus seeks to walk with us in life and assist us in our choices and decisions,” the bishop said. “The new year will be better for us if we live it with a knowledge of our need for God in our lives.”

On New Year’s Day, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, and the bishop said that it is Mary who shows us the need to be grateful to God and the importance of keeping him present in our lives.

“As Mary ‘kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart,’ so too are we to prayerfully be grateful that God has shown us his love in Jesus and called us to reflect on the ways in which he has blessed us so that we might live according to his guidance. We can be sure that God in Jesus will be with us, helping us to be faithful to the life he calls us to live,” the bishop said. “We are also reminded in this feast of Christmas that we are children of God and brothers and sisters of the One whose human birth we celebrate in Christmas, Jesus the Lord and Prince of Peace.”

In addition to celebrating Mary as the Mother of God on New Year’s Day, the Church also commemorates the World Day of Prayer for Peace, which the bishop said also connects us to the feast of Christmas.

“That, too, has its roots in Christmas where we hear angels announce the birth of the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Lord,” the bishop said. “For us who see Jesus as Savior and Lord, his way of life is our path to peace. He calls us to love God and love one another. That is the way of peace.”

While the bishop said that the beginning of a new year is a time of expectation and hope, during the Mass at the cathedral, he also took time to reflect on the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on December 31 at the age of 95.

“We are saddened as a community, as the family of the Church, by the loss of a great man, priest, and leader of the Church,” the bishop said.

When Pope Benedict was still a cardinal, serving as the director of the Office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Deeley had an opportunity to work with him, something the bishop described as a privilege.

“Pope Benedict’s influence on the Church has been profound for the last 60 years. He began as a young influential theologian at the Second Vatican Council, and he continued through his 24 years of leading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to strengthen the Church and make known the Good News of the Gospel. Then, he was called to lead the Church as pope,” the bishop said. “When I think of this great man, I am touched by the way his great theological scholarship always led those who listened to him deeper into a knowledge of God. Pope Benedict spoke to us of God and, in particular, God in Jesus Christ.”

To honor the memory of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the bishop will celebrate a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday, January 4, at 12:15 p.m.  All are invited to attend.

Pope Emeritus Benedict’s funeral Mass will be celebrated by Pope France on Thursday at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.