I am not into New Years resolutions, but I do love to start a new year with plans. Big plans for health and for organizing, plans for work and projects. I look forward to my time over the holidays to reflect and to chart the course for the next 12 months. This year, however, my plan to plan fell away. With all of the traveling and visiting and holiday festivities and jet lag, I find myself in these early days of January with none of my carefully plotted outline for the year ahead made. But I have something else!
Today as I was wearily folding laundry taken from suitcases as we settle back into work and school routines, I turned on a Mother Angelica rerun. She was talking about Purgatory, and one of the things she said really struck me. She said that to avoid purgatory we need to be completely accepting of God’s will in our lives, and thankful for it. She quoted Mother Theresa – apparently someone came to her and said “Mother Theresa, we have a problem”-and before hearing what the problem was, Mother Theresa said, “No- we have a gift.” Why? Because Mother Theresa understood that we can be purified in this life by the trials that God permits in our lives. When we realize that everything that happens to us is either God’s will or something that God permits – BECAUSE HE LOVES US!- that it will all be for our good – we can accept what happens and be grateful for it.
This doesn’t mean that there is no place for planning and having goals for the year. But more than anything my goal is to really listen for the will of God in my life and to follow it. How to do that? Pray, go to mass, read the Bible and Catechism, volunteer with the sick and the poor, go regularly to confession- there are so many ways. But mostly to NOT let my plans get in the way of what God has for me. The idea is to not be so attached to what I want and to be happy when God has a different plan for my life. Wishing you all a blessed New Year!
My Catholic Journey 