Out with the old ...

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul … Unless one made New Year resolutions, one would make no resolutions. Unless one starts afresh about things, one will certainly do nothing effective.”  GK Chesterton

And the old 18^th-century preacher, Jonathan Edwards, said this: “My resolution is that I will live for God.  And when no one else will, I will still live for God.”

Unless we turn our backs on the hatefulness of the past, the past will continue to haunt us.  The spite and the rhetoric have grown so vile in the past year that it seems we can – or will – do nothing for God because we are too busy trying to defend ourselves and what we believe is most important to us.  We can do better, and indeed we must.  Our children are depending on us.

It is not about being politically correct because I doubt any of us can avoid saying or doing anything that will not offend someone in some way (some people are not content unless they feel victimized).  It is not about trying to be popular or well-liked because someone will always take issue with us especially if we strive to be true first to our Holy Father.  And it is not about being so tolerant that we would condone behavior, especially by our silence  – any behavior - which has been proved time and again to be destructive to the body, the mind, the soul, the family, and the Church.

The only thing that will separate 2013 from 2014 will be the darkness of night.  How we greet the dawn when we awake tomorrow and every day from that moment will determine whether we will remain stuck in the past or resolved to live for God and let the secular chips fall where they may.  As St. Paul states in his Epistle to the Romans: “Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified” (2:13).

Resolve to live first for God.  Put away the selfish habits and practices of the past.  Rebuild the crumbling Church, and thus refresh your souls and the souls of your neighbors; for the Lord’s promises for those who turn to Him are sure and certain, and the fullness of life will be yours.

Happy New Year!

Blessings,

Michael