January 17, 2011
Father Michael B. McGarry, CSPNew Year’s resolutions. What are those?
Good ideas for the future? Or, as a friend of mine dubs exercise equipment gathering dust in the corner, “a monument to good intentions”?
A waste of time … I’ll simply break them and then feel guilty?
Or are they an expression of hope? That is, I am not defined by my past, the future can be different, and I can be a tool of God’s will for a refashioned world.
It’s been a few weeks since we started the New Year. Perhaps we thought we had relieved ourselves of guilt by not making resolutions – “We won’t keep them anyway” – and so now there is nothing to fret about. No resolutions. No guilt. No problem.
But I would like to suggest going back to the New Year and its resolutions. Now is the time, now is the moment.
Many of us have heard this story in some form, but I remember it as follows: One time, a certain ruler was surveying his kingdom. Noting that a good swath of land was barren of fruit or wheat or trees, he said to one of his aides: “Why is nothing being grown in that field?” “Well, your majesty, we just haven’t gotten around to it. And besides, we can put off planting fruit trees for a while as they will not bear fruit for years.” “Is that so? Well, in that case, I want you to plant the trees in that field immediately. We cannot wait another day!”
Our Paulist mission is for the long term. Indeed, some of our work will not see fruition for many years. So we cannot delay for a moment.
Therefore, I suggest that, since harvest is many years away, we – that is, you and I who share the Paulist mission – start immediately and not wait for Lent or for the next New Year for a resolution. We start today.
So I share with you these thoughts, not so much to let you know what I’m thinking but rather to spark some thinking, or better, resolutions, on your part. To live our faith differently, more deeply, less individualistically requires resolutions and action.
What action? Let me suggest a few.
There is a young man in your parish or your office who you think would make a wonderful priest. (One good personal test: “I would like to see him as a priest in a parish where my children would live.”) Tell him that you think he would make a good priest and a good Paulist. Send me his name and address, and I will send him a packet of materials for him to get to know us better. Today. This week.
You have been meaning to invite someone in your workplace to your parish. This person left the church a while ago, but recently has been asking about your faith experience. You say, “Would you like to go to Mass with me? We can have a coffee afterwards and talk about it, if you would like.” Today. This week.
You have been meaning to make a will, but you have put it off. And you would like to make sure that, when (not if!) you die, your assets go to your family, your favorite charities (e.g., the Paulist Fathers) and your college. Today. This week.
These are some post-New Year’s resolutions worth thinking about, even more so worth acting on. Today.