At this time of year, we hear much about resolutions, new beginnings, a fresh start. All we need to do is to recall our past New Year’s resolutions to realize the truth of what St. Jane de Chantal once wisely wrote: “It is easy to begin a New Year: it is not so easy to see it to completion. It is not so easy to put our hands to the work that God expects of us during every day of this approaching year.”
Beginnings are easy. Following through is the hard part.
Still, St. Jane is an optimist, as are all in the Salesian tradition. Which is why she adds: “Time passes, the years come and go, and we come and go with them. Nevertheless, we must make a strong and absolute resolution that, if our Lord wills that we might enjoy this coming year, we will make a better use of this New Year than the many that have preceded it.”
Agreed. But how?
Once again, this large-hearted, saintly widow, mother and foundress has an answer: “Let us walk with a new and lively spring in our step in the service of God and one another.”
In urging us to “walk with a new and lively spring in our step in the service of God and one another,” Jane is inviting us to renew our efforts to observe the double commandment of love of God and neighbor, that is, to dedicate ourselves anew to the basics of the Christian life, but to do so with a new and lively enthusiasm, a joyful and determined zeal.
Thus, in vintage Salesian wisdom, Jane is encouraging a firm resolve on our part to do ordinary, everyday things with great love. Married? Attend to the love of your spouse, never taking that love for granted. A parent? See in the faith and human formation of your children God’s principal will for you. A friend? Reach out to your friends, connect, help, encourage them in many small, simple and ordinary ways, especially during these dark, lonely and painful days of pandemic.
A final bit of sound advice from Jane at the beginning of this new year is this: “Let us embrace our state and stage of life as fully as we can. Let us employ the time that God gives us with great care. While we ultimately must depend and rely upon God’s mercy, let us at the same time remember to do as much good as we can in the time that God gives us now.”
In other words, the best of New Year’s resolutions is simply this: in each present moment during the year ahead, however ordinary or routine, let us be who we are and be that perfectly well!
Gratefully,
V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington-Philadelphia Province
