STOP! Don't make New Year's Resolutions

Ideas toward a spiritual program for the New Year

The days are growing shorter and darker as December makes way for January, indicating that the year is drawing to a close. In the midst of these post-Christmas days which extend the celebration of the birth of Christ, we might find ourselves wondering, “How could we have already arrived at the end of another year?”

What have I done this year?
What are some of the memories I’ve created?
Have I made a difference?
Have I touched or been touched by another’s kindness, shared the gift of my faith and love with others?
Have I perhaps lost a loved one this year or has my family rejoiced in the gift of new life?

These are important questions to be asking—questions which can stir within us gratitude or wonder, acceptance or repentance….

St. John of the Cross, a great Carmelite mystic and Doctor of the Church once wrote: “In the evening of life we will be judged on love.” So while our secular culture spends millions in advertising dollars trying to convince us that we need the latest cars, styles, luxurious homes, beauty products and procedures in order to achieve the ultimate goal of satisfaction, recognition, or happiness, the heart knows otherwise… A priest once shared that he’s accompanied many parishioners in the final weeks of their lives. Not once has a person said that they wish they had acquired more things, seen more exotic places or achieved greater success… no, it seems that what is most important in those final hours is to have LOVED much and to have been loved!
So when I kneel quietly in the chapel, still decorated for Christmas, and recall the most salient happenings of the past year, what most stands out for me are the loving encounters with others that have interspersed my days. Sometimes I have been the “receiver” and other times the “giver,” whether it was a word or gesture, a kindly deed or a quite unexpected opportunity to listen, lend a hand, or share faith with another.

One of my favorite lines of Scripture which occasionally beckons me is this: “And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) For me this is both an invitation and a program of life…. Rather than make a long list of New Year’s resolutions this year, I want to sit with this simple instruction and let it inform my inmost desires…. The words of the Prophet Micah can help me to love and let myself be loved, to really listen to others and hear their need for compassion and understanding, and to likewise receive in faith the small and sometimes powerful manifestations of goodness, care and tenderness that unexpectedly come.
During this Year of Faith we are each invited to seek ways of growing in our faith. Perhaps a wonderful starting place might be in the area of relationships. In order to grow in love we need to spend more time listening … both to one another and to Jesus. In order to really encounter the “other” we need to create space in our hearts by listening, which requires openness, acceptance and welcome. Help me, Jesus, to welcome your invitations to know you more profoundly, to love you more tenderly, and to follow you more closely in this coming year.

Sr. Susan James Heady, FSP
Daughters of St. Paul