Our First Resolution

It’s the last day of 2023, and we should be looking forward to all the good things, real and imaginary, that the New Year will bring.  We may be a little hesitant in placing too much hope that such good things will actually happen, but we hope nonetheless.  We are, after all, mostly powerless to do anything to improve the world situation or to halt the devil’s powerful onslaught against our Holy Church.  But we yearn to find some way of improving something—something we are in control of.  And that’s not much these days.  But we can try to improve ourselves.  That’s where our New Year’s Resolutions come in.

So we sit down at the last minute with a nice martini every New Year’s Eve, and wonder how we can best make next year a more fruitful, productive, enjoyable, prosperous, efficient and healthy time for ourselves than the last twelve months have been.  What can we do to make our own lives “nicer”?  Our aspirations are often vain attempts at self-improvement.  But if we think long and hard enough, we may perhaps conclude that there are other improvements we can make in our lives, other than making more money, losing weight, or perhaps not drinking so many martinis.  We may remember that the only kind of self-improvement that our blessed Lord is likely to take notice of is the maintenance of our soul and its state of grace, and our rise to perfection.  If we’re seeking to improve on the big picture, it’s in the realm of the spiritual that we should be looking.

Chronologically speaking, the first resolution we should all make today is to actually resolve to do better.  Once we’ve taken that step, the next follows logically, and that is to decide just how we can do better.  We’ll figure out all the superficial improvements that we want to make.  But let’s not stop there.  Our resolutions are not meant to be self-centered attempts to appear more wonderful or live more comfortably.  We need to move beyond these vanities and spend a bit more time figuring out how we can come closer to God, how we can be better people, better Christians.

Next, we should come up with a list, no matter how short, of specific, concrete resolutions for achieving the desired goals.  Once you’ve written down your list, then prioritize it, so that those first resolutions you thought of, the silly, superficial and self-centered ones, come last, while top of the list are your spiritual aspirations to do better.

Finally, we should renew that first resolution we made, of “resolving to do better,” by resolving to keep this list of resolutions.

If we make the effort to take these steps in order, we’re much more likely to stay committed to our resolutions and actually make those desired improvements come to fruition.

In terms of time then, our resolutions should be made in the order just described.  But in terms of importance, as we observed earlier, our very first and highest priority resolution must be for the improvement of our spiritual life.  So try and spend some time today considering how best to make that happen.  Can I pray more, can I be more charitable to my neighbor, can I fight and get rid of my habitual faults and imperfections?  There are so many ways that we can become better people, and we are all individually responsible for coming up with the best plan for ourselves.  Go through the list of sins you find yourself confessing most frequently, examine your conscience and humbly acknowledge the virtues of which you’re most in need.  Think of your lifestyle and how it can be less worldly, how you can make God a more important and central part of it.  Consider your time and how much of it you waste or squander.  How can you spend your time more profitably for the good of your soul?

These are just a few ideas for you to think about today during Mass and afterwards when you have a few quiet moments.  Make it your priority to take that initial step of acknowledging that things need improving, then take as long as you can to figure out the rest.

Let’s sum up by repeating the four stages of making some meaningful New Year’s Resolutions.  The rest is up to you.

1. Resolve to do better in the New Year.
2. Figure out the specific things you need to improve.
3. Make a list and put it in the right order according to priority.
4. Make a formal and prayerful resolution to keep all your resolutions.

May God bless us all in our endeavors and give us the graces to fulfill our aspirations in being better men and women by this time next New Year’s Eve.  Be safe in your celebrations tonight, both physically and morally, and a very Happy New Year to all.