Holy mystery,
initiator of all time and of this time,
we begin a new year
here at your love feast,
this ordinary and simple,
mysterious and powerful
expression of our life in Christ
and with one another.
Help us embrace
the whole meaning of the Christmas story
we just celebrated -
birth, life, death and new life.
We enter a year full of unknowns,
yearning to believe
it is filled with possibility and hope.
It is a good day,
a day for new beginnings,
a day to experience love.
Compassionate one,
we do not want this hope, this love,
to be known only for us present here,
we want to mediate
its joy to others.
January 4, 1998