So, I talk to God, and then I listen for his direction. I ask him to help me surrender myself to his will every day. It isn’t easy — we know that — but it is something for which we can continually strive. Believing that God helps us and forgives our failings causes us to have hope that someday we will fulfill our resolutions. We have hope that God will move us forward, eventually, even to eternal life with him, when every tear will be wiped away, “when the old order has passed away.” (Rv 21:4)

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” So let us strive to be “in Christ.” Let us strive to be made new again “in Christ” this year.

And how do we do that? As Jesus instructed in Matthew 22:37-40: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the First Commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love is the very foundation of our Catholic faith. These two commandments to love God and neighbor are easy to understand, but so much harder to demonstrate in how we live each day. Are you showing God that you love him and serve him by spending time with him in daily prayer? Do you seek his direction? Perhaps by reading the Gospels, attending Mass with an open heart, adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, seeking Mary’s help by praying the rosary, or maybe looking to grow your faith in a prayer group, Bible study, or reading a spiritual book?

Do you love the friend, sibling, or child who challenges you at every turn? Do you have patience to listen to your elderly neighbor lament that their children rarely visit? Or better yet, do you help them with a chore they now have trouble completing? Do you try to open your mind to see the point of view of another who disagrees with you? How do we take care of those in need — the hungry, thirsty, stranger and others listed by Jesus in Matthew 25? You are here because you are part of God’s plan to bring his love to this world; follow your faith and open your heart to what God is calling you to do, and who he is calling you to be. He is ultimately asking us to practice being saints.

I invite you to challenge yourself as you look forward to this new year. Each time that you wake up in the morning is a gift, so consider beginning each day with gratitude. Gratitude is the antidote for the crippling anger that grips so many of us and causes us to be less than who God intends us to be. For every one complaint you might have, I encourage you to think of five good things in your life for which you are grateful; write them down and look at the list often. And thank God for the beauty of each new day, month and year. God gives us the gift of time so that we can draw closer to him.

Let us all begin anew in celebrating God’s gift of our lives, of his love, mercy and grace. Let us honor him for his goodness, and let’s remember to reflect his love in the way we treat everyone we encounter. May we be reset and made new again this year as we strive always to live “in Christ.”

Happy New Year and may God bless you and those you love.