from the bishop Bishop Francis I. Malone We don’t seem to hear much about ‘New Year’s Resolutions,” as we once did, but the custom is something we might want to give some serious thought to – even if past attempts at such resolutions failed. First, a look at the word “resolution.” To be resolute is to be “determined, purposeful, and unwavering.” Resolutions are decisions we make at this time of you reflecting some specific change we want to make in our lives, and we do it, as the word says, in a determined way. Some choose to give up something, like a bad habit or a vice, while others choose to take on a new habit like losing weight. Some choose to abstain from certain things in their daily ritual, like drinking or desserts. I’ve often thought how much such resolutions are like the good intentions we make as we begin the penitential season of Lent just a month and a half after the New Year begins. In any case, regardless of the timing, new resolutions can be something we choose to do at any time of year. By the time you read this article, New Year’s Day will be long past, but the opportunity to be determined or purposeful or unwavering in our daily lives about a particular change we know God wants us to experience is always timely. So what have you decided? 4 THE CATHOLIC CONNECTION
Second, it’s kind of amusing to talk with people about their New Year’s Resolutions just weeks into the New Year, and find that as resolute as they were on January 1 – somehow they were not able to persevere, and fell back into old ways. I know I have had that experience myself. So, perhaps, in an effort to avoid weak or unsustainable resolutions, our approach to this custom might produce more successful results if we look at resolutions a little differently than we have in the past. Are you ready for a challenge? As I write this article, I am doing what any good preacher does – I’m preaching to myself, and asking a fundamental series of questions that might win better results. This is what I know I need to do, and I challenge you to join me as January winds its way into the New Year. I am asking this question, “what does God want me to change? What is there in my life that I KNOW He wants me to do differently? Am I willing to submit my will to His, and through prayer and perseverance, change something in my life that will better conform my life to His? Go for it! A happy and blessed New Year!
