January Messenger: Time for new beginnings

Donal Neary SJ recalls his mother making marmalade in his January Messenger editorial. “It was more than a process”, he recalls, adding, “It was all done with love and care. It was a kind of ritual each year, and these were good memories.”

Donal also shares an interesting fact about the name ‘marmalade’, explaining, “The folk etymology of the word ‘marmalade ‘– ‘Mary est malade’, was what was said about sick Queen Mary of Scots, who loved the stuff but couldn’t speak French. She thought they were telling her its name!” Finally, he invites us to think about our own family rituals. He asks, “What memories give a lift to your own heart?”

Mary Hunt from Roscommon is a frequent contributor to the Messenger, and her piece, ‘A New Year’, sheds light on the emotions and thoughts evoked by the transition from the old year to the new. “January offers us a fresh start,” she says, “and the year stretches ahead full of possibilities, but our common future is unknown.” She says that for her, the unknown future holds a mixture of fear and anticipation. And she suggests the best response to this sense of trepidation is to “first and foremost pray about it. We really are dependent on God for everything.”

Reflecting on the old Irish saying, ‘Go m’beirimis beo ag an am seo aris’ (that we may be alive at this time next year), Mary says it honours the insight that we are blessed just to live through another year. “I am not denying that life is hard, but in its light and shade, it is always a gift.”

Mary also notes the impact of nature. “Personally, I find great comfort in its beauty. There is a temptation to take life for granted, but our earthly lives are not forever; we can always notice beauty.” She concludes her article with a poem The Gate of the Year by Minnie Haskins, made famous by King George VI in his Christmas Address of 1939.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown” and he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way”.

Kevin O’Gorman SMA shares the Pope’s intention for the month: “Let us pray that praying with the word of God be nourishment for our lives and a source of hope in our communities, helping us to build a more fraternal and missionary Church.” Commenting on the intention, Kevin says, “The double reference to prayer here is not a tautology but a testament to the faithful and fruitful familiarity of praying with the scripture that supplies the formation of the ‘missionary disciples’ that Pope Francis frequently called for.” Fr Kevin also reminds us that “Pope Francis regularly requested all members of the Church to remember him in prayer.”

Fr Liam Lawton is a composer of liturgical music and is well known to many parishioners and other groups for his concerts. In an article on ‘Music in Liturgy’, he shares the importance of music in our own congregations and how best we can all get involved in the singing. One of his tips is that music should be melodic and accessible. “If we pick music that people will remember and learn easily, they are more likely to sing,” he believes. Quoting the great French Liturgist Joseph Gelineau, who once said, “If one voice in the assembly is silent, then the praise of God is incomplete,” Fr Liam observes, “Obviously, we here in Ireland have a lot of work to do to complete the praise of God!”

David Breen continues his monthly series of articles on scripture, focusing this month on the Baptism of Jesus. “Jesus’ first adult appearance, in Matthew’s Gospel, was on the banks of the Jordan requesting baptism from John,” he writes, adding, “The incongruity of the request was not lost on John.”

In his January contribution, Father John Cullen also focuses on Gospel stories, including the ‘Nameless Widow’. He discusses the significance of ‘widows’ in the Gospels, particularly the widow who gave her last two coins as a temple offering. He says, “We might look at the widow and see that she was in peril of perishing in poverty, but she looked at God, and saw that divine providence would not abandon her.”

The Messenger also features its regular selections, including reflections, scripture, cookery (including the recipe for traditional marmalade jam!), crosswords, children’s pages, nature focus, and RE:LINK.