"New Year Resolutions - a Catholic Guide"
2nd Sunday Christmas,
Cobh,
5 January 2025
My friends,
It being the New Year, the subject of resolutions is in the air. It is difficult to escape the avalanche of advice being offered both by way of decision and execution of resolutions. In the course of the week, I came across a reflection on this very issue – but it was the title that caught my attention because it read,
“A Catholic guide to making – and sticking to – your New Year’s Resolution.”
The writer of the piece compared her experience of, the Sacrament of Confession with her encounter with her therapist. The priest celebrant and the therapist have the same objective of ‘changing one’s life.’
She points out that for many of us Confession while it is sincere, and well intentioned is not always prepared for with enough thorough and deliberate examination of our life. Grace we know builds on nature by which we mean in this context we need to lay solid foundations for the renewal of and growth of our inner life.
The reason that many people avail of counselling is that they recognise their life is ‘out of kilter’ and they need the help of someone independent to get a better understanding of what is going on. Unless we get this help from a therapist, priest confessor or a friend we tend to endlessly repeat our failure.
A phrase the writers therapist used which she found helpful is “move the needle.” ‘Moving the needle’ meant we have a better grasp of what we need to do and seeking the grace of God find the resolve to be faithful in this small change either in our thinking or action.
In the spiritual life there is one particularly serious risk, flaw or sin. It’s called Acedia – a lack of care, sloth, laziness or apathy. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. It is deadly because it robs us of engagement with life – it’s characterised by a sense of boredom and despair. Why bother? It doesn’t make any difference anyway.
The making of any resolution, big or small, is exactly the opposite – it reflects our desire to do better, to choose the good in ourselves and nurture it into new life – not just for ourselves but for others.
This is fundamentally the added dimension of the Confessional – the opportunity to deepen our personal honesty and understanding that by his grace we may continue to grow in love of the Lord and of one another.
Resolutions that focus only on our own self-interested purposes will never satisfy. What does satisfy is the joy that comes from what the grace of God can do in us with our yes and desire.
Happy New Year and all the best with those resolutions!
