HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yes, you read that correctly! I am wishing you a happy new year. This is the first Sunday of the 2022 Church year. (Our church has divided our biblical liturgical readings into 3 cycles: A, B, and C. Today we begin year C for 2022. But that is a topic of different column.) Our church calendar year begins with Advent and goes through the life of Christ. And… Today is the First Sunday of Advent, so, Happy New Year to you! Many people begin their January 1st new year by making resolutions hoping to result in a better life. I know I made mine last January—and as determined as I was to follow through on those resolutions, I cannot remember a single one of them!! How about you? Do you remember the ones you made? Did you follow through with them through the entire year? (If you did, you have more will power than me!—and a better memory!)

SO, I am proposing that we take advantage of this Church New Year and make some new resolutions—but different kinds of resolutions. I propose that this new year, we resolve to work on our spiritual life…that we make resolutions that will grow our faith, hope, and love—and that will lead to a better life in Christ. As the Gospel readings have been re-minding us, our time on this earth is precious and limited, so why not make a concerted effort to make the most of the time allotted to us.

Our Faith—why not resolve to pray or pray more. There are all kinds of ways to do that, and it doesn’t mean that you have to get up at the crack of dawn every day! There are many devotionals that can draw you closer to Christ and only take a few minutes a day—there are even family geared ones that can draw you closer to each other as you draw closer to Jesus. You can pray with music. Christian music today is so very inspirational and prayerful. You can even Google the lyrics and meditate on the message in the words. You can use scripture—lectio divina is a powerful form of prayer and conversation with Our Lord. Dynamic Catholic has a free email program, Best Advent Ever, that they send you every day to guide you in your prayer efforts. Our work, if we dedicate it to God, and do it for His honor and glory, can be a powerful prayer. Just conversing with Jesus, using everyday dialogue, is prayer. There are many Christian videos that lead us into prayer. I highly recommend The Chosen! I know that you can come up with many other prayer styles that will fit into your day to fulfill a new year’s resolution to increase prayer.

Our Hope— Let us resolve to see the good in our days. Find something positive to say no matter how trivial it sounds. Did you wake up this morning—thank God! Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have clean clothes? Do you have someone that you love? Can you breathe? Do you have clean water? Are you alive—again, thank God! If we can see the blessings in these things, then we need to open our eyes to see the good around us. Start a gratitude journal. Start a prayer request journal. Resolve to say something upbeat to each person that you interact with. Resolve to turn off the news when they get too draining. Resolve to share some-thing positive and happy on social media. When you catch yourself looking at the evil in a situation, resolve to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see God in the circumstances in-stead—He is there! He’s just waiting to be invited in! We are truly blessed, resolve to ask God’s help in seeing your many blessings each day. Write them down if it helps.

Our Love—This column has often spo-ken of performing Random Acts of Kindness. Why not resolve to do intentional acts of kindness each day, looking for ways that you can be a blessing to someone else to lighten their load. During Advent there are so many opportunities for resolutions that share love. We don’t have to spend money, but we do have to spend time and our heart. A smile, a kind word, a compliment to a stranger, thanking someone for coming to work, thanking your teacher for caring enough to want you to behave or do your best, thanking your coach for investing his efforts into bettering your skills, letting someone go ahead of you in the grocery line, helping that elderly neighbor decorate their house or clean their gutters, purposely being patient when the people in front of you are being difficult with the cashier, saying thank you when the busy waitress or bus person clears your dishes (and maybe leaving a more generous tip than usual). There are so many ways that you can resolve to do intentional acts of kindness. Telling your parents thank you for a meal or doing your laundry, asking the kid who is always overlooked to join you, playing with a sibling so your parent can get a breather from their day, sharing your toys without complaining—you get the picture. You are not too young–or too old– to make a resolution of love.

So let’s make those New Year’s Resolutions and “embrace the things of the soul; lasting and eternal treasures like love and mercy; the kind of joy that can only come from selfless giving, the satisfaction that comes from lifting up the hopes and dreams of the broken, the power and renewed vitality that comes with forgiveness…(to) accept God’s invitation tobe people of the Gospel”. (K. Peters) Happy New Year! Alvera Bell