Good bye 2017! Welcome 2018!

Good bye 2017! 
Welcome 2018!
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From the moment we were born into this world, we started our trips around the sun.

As many full trips, so many years old we are.

We are starting another full trip around the sun.

We cannot escape journeying around the sun as the world in which  we live does the same from the instant it was created.

"I am the light of the world",(John. 8:12) said Jesus.

Just as the material world revolves around the sun in order to keep itself functioning, our spiritual life revolves around Jesus, the light of the world, to keep itself growing.

Jesus is the ever bright and life giving Sun, around whom our spiritual life revolves.

Jesus is the centre of our spiritual life.

Simply put, our life is Christ centred.

"He who follows me can never walk in darkness," said Jesus.

In Jesus we see things as they really are.

"He will possess the light which is life."

He is not only our light,  but also our life.

"Jesus said to him, I am the way; I am truth and life."(John. 14:6)

In short , Jesus is our everything. 

There is a difference between the world revolving around the sun and we around Jesus.

The world is bound by the law of nature and it cannot go astray.

But we have freedom of choice and action and there is every possibility of going astray, unless we are always conscious  of our presence in Jesus,  Our Lord.

We should  make an  examination of conscience at night before going to bed, in order to find out whether we have made use of our freedom correctly.

If we have gone wrong we should correct ourselves the next day.

We should do the same thing  at end of the year.

We should start the new year with the resolution to keep to the path of Jesus, our Light.

The practice of New Year’s resolutions demonstrates two aspects of our human nature that are important for the spiritual life:

our constant need for growth

and

our inability to persevere by our sheer will power.

Many a times we are dissatisfied with our own resolution because we are
unable to persevere in carrying out the resolution made.

Sometimes our dissatisfaction reaches an extreme level which even makes us make a resolution never more to make a resolution at all!

This is because we fail to strengthen our resolution with the grace of God.

We cannot move even small atom without the grace of God.

We have already noted that our spiritual life revolves around God just as our material world revolves around the sun.

The Son of God is the Sun, due to the gravitational force of love and grace of whom our spiritual journey is moving along the right path without going astray.

So it is Jesus' love and grace that keeps us bound with Him.

"Ask,  it shall be given," Jesus has said.

We are thinking of only material things to be asked for.

But we should ask for the grace of God to be of help in our spiritual life.

We can ask for material helps too provided they are not injurious to our spiritual welfare.

Now coming  to the point, we should make new year resolution with full confidence not in our own ability, but in the ability of God, for whom everything is possible.

We should pray to God to help us to translate our resolution into practice.

First our resolution should not be vague.

"I will lead a good life hereafter"  is very vague.

It should be particular.

For instance,

"I shall not be short tempered."

"I shall not be angry with anyone for any reason."

"I shall not talk ill of anyone to anyone."

"I shall start every day with a Rosary."

"I shall make an examination of conscience every day before going to bed."

There are thousands of resolutions like the above.

Every morning we should pray to God to help us to carry out the resolution made.

Before going to bed we should examine our conscience to see how far we have succeeded in putting our resolution into practice.

The next day we should renew our resolution and start afresh.

Our failures will one day reach zero level,  which means we have succeeded.

Then we will have to keep up the success with the grace of God.

Let us welcome the new year,2018, with a resolution, that will help us to take a forward step in our spiritual life.

Lourdu Selvam.