A new year holds lots of promise for us.
A new beginning, a fresh start, it beckons us to make adjustments in our lives, based on the previous year.
New years resolutions are made, and often, swiftly broken.
I had given little thought to new years resolutions and was caught, somewhat off guard, by some asking me what my new year’s resolution was. Most of those around me had made resolutions, and no doubt many of you reading this article have done the same thing.
Resolutions are many and varied, giving up smoking, buying a new house or car, or getting a new job. And as I sat listening to the people around me share their resolutions I was struck with the sudden thought that none of these resolutions involved God. How can we begin a new year and make resolutions without including God, without whom we can do nothing?
Who gives us the strength and the courage to give up smoking, or the initiative and opportunity to find a more suitable job?
Perhaps these resolutions sum up the feeling of the society we live in, one could hardly argue that our world makes a place for God in its everyday life. God is ignored, that’s right, the same God that created us, is ignored on a day to day basis by the majority.
It is then, no surprise that as a society our resolutions do not include God and are sometimes selfish.
What if we were to change our resolutions to something like; spending more time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, attending an extra Mass during the week or converting at least one person to Catholicism?
If that seems too hard a task, or a resolution easily broken, why not try forgiving that person we’ve been fighting with for months, or being obedient to our parents?
They might seem as though they are impossible tasks, but they aren’t any harder to keep than quitting smoking or buying a new house, but they are more rewarding in the long run.
I urge each of you to reconsider your new year’s resolution. Make it something that will please our Heavenly Father.
Previously published in Together.
Originally posted 2015-12-30 03:34:13.