A Resolution for Meaning

Often on this celebration of yet another trip around the sun, we think about the ways we can add health or productivity or efficiency to our lives.  I was surprised and inspired by Pope Benedict's unusual challenge given in his homily today:

Another year is drawing to a close as we await the start of a new one: with some trepidation, with our perennial desires and expectations. Reflecting on our life experience, we are continually astonished by how ultimately short and ephemeral life is. So we often find ourselves asking: What meaning can we give to our days? What meaning, in particular, can we give to the days of toil and grief?

He does not promise an end to "toil and grief" or a longer life as a result of our new year's resolutions.  Instead, he asks us to bring meaning to the state of life in which God has placed us.  Honestly, I find this a much harder goal to make and follow than a vague promise to myself to work out more or clean that garage out for once.

Pope Benedict XVI, always applying his philosophy and theology to daily living, has several recommendations regarding how we might add meaning to our lives:

Turn to Christ.  "Man is son of a God who has entered time so as to redeem it from meaninglessness and negativity, a God who has redeemed all humanity, giving it everlasting love as a new perspective of life."  Love, thus, is the key to anxiety and brokenness.  A very holy monsignor gave our homily today at Mass.  He encouraged us to pray for ourselves, but also to pray fervently for others in this new year.  We need grace to achieve peace and to live our lives after the example of Christ.

Embrace evangelization.  Witnessing to Christ within you is not someone else's job.  Pope Benedict specified that the youth today are particularly aware of the evils of society.  They are not guarded from the ways our world is broken, and they are particularly sensitive to the despair that can come from a recognition of evil.  Families have the first priority toward showing them the hope that can be found in Christ.  If a child sees that the evils of the world only penetrate his parent's peace to a small extent because of that parent's trust in God's goodness, that child may also learn to believe that God is beyond the anxieties of the present.  He cites both the Sacraments and the formal instruction of the faith as additional practical ways to bring your child closer to Christ.

Be grateful.  The pope's final exhortation is to be grateful.  Sometimes the most prominent events from a particular year are trials rather than blessings.  Yet in so far as we can recognize that God's Providence is at work at all times in our lives, we can have a joy that abides deeper than any passion or experience can touch.  Edith Stein speaks of this phenomenon in her discussion on the passions.  She says that some people, especially people of faith, have a core that is joyful or peaceful.  They still experience normal passions: fear, anger, etc.  However, those negative passions only have a limited "reach" into the depths of the person.  A person's core can repel and overcome negative passions and reestablish equanimity in his life (or at least in the perspective he holds in relation to the events of his life.)  I've always loved St. Paul's reflections on gratitude as a prerequisite for peace:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. -- Philippians 4:6-9

I'll end with a final quotation from our Holy Father:

. . . we must see to it that the beauty and contemporary relevance of the faith is rediscovered, not as an isolated event, affecting some particular moment in our lives, but as a constant orientation, affecting even the simplest choices, establishing a profound unity within the person, so that he becomes just, hardworking, generous and good.

To be a united person, not fragmented and frenzied . . . to find that unity in the One God.  What a beautiful new year's resolution!  I think I'll work on ending every day with a reflection on that idea.  "Was I oriented towards Christ or towards myself today?  Despite any difficulties that I encountered, was I hardworking, generous, and good?  Did I have a spirit of gratitude or of joyful acceptance?"  And perhaps if I truly seek out those few things, the rest will follow and I will grow a bit closer to the heart of my Lord.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Thine!

Read the pope's full homily here: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-gives-thanks-to-god-for-2011/#ixzz1iEsbXI1k

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