Deacon Steve's New Year's Resolutions

Following is Deacon Steve Hodge's Homily from December 2, 2012. The readings are from the 1^st Sunday Advent – C

Good morning!

Happy New Year, my friends!

Today is the beginning of the Church year. 

The church doesn’t wait for January 1^st to begin its New Year; it begins on the first Sunday of Advent.

As we begin this New Church Year I think it’s appropriate that we say to each other “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” just like we do on January 1^st.

As I reflected on today’s readings and the season of Advent, I thought about January 1^st - New Year’s Day. 

Besides the food, the celebrations, and all the football games, what else do people do on January 1st?

Do any of you ever make New Year’s resolutions?

Some more popular New Year’s resolutions include:

-            Lose weight

-            Exercise more

-            Eat better food

-            Read more – watch less TV

-            Get out of debt

-            To get organized

These are wonderful things to do to improve our bodies and our minds.

We all feel better when we put away the junk food and eat healthier.

We all feel better when we exercise our bodies and become more physically fit.

We all feel better when we lose weight and have less to carry.

Reading more, getting out of debt and becoming more organized all help us feel better about life.

My friends, this Advent season we can apply these same New Year’s resolutions to our spiritual life.

Advent has a two-fold purpose:

To prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas and to prepare for the coming of Christ at the end of time.

As we look ahead to the coming of Jesus, let’s take a look at a few resolutions that we may consider for our Advent journey.

We can certainly exercise more, can’t we?  What are some spiritual exercises?

We can pray more.

We may want to pray morning prayer and evening prayer.

How about the rosary, or the divine mercy chaplet?

We may want to consider spending time with Jesus in front of the Tabernacle.

How about attending mass during the week as well as Sunday?

Like physical exercises, spiritual exercises really help us to feel better.

Once we recognize this, the exercises become something that we look forward to doing each day. 

And if we skip a day, we feel as though something isn’t right, that something is missing.

Our next resolution is to eat better. How do we eat better spiritually?

                We’ve all heard the sayings ‘You are what you eat’ and ‘garbage in garbage out.’

With that in mind, if our goal as Catholics is to become more Christ like, then we need to feed on Jesus.

                How do we do that?

The most obvious place is here at the Mass, where we feed on Jesus in scripture, in each other, and in the Eucharist.

We can feed our minds and our souls by reading about the Church and about the saints.

We can study the Bible study, too - the Gospel of Luke would be a great place to start. 

My friends, just as our bodies need nourishment each day, our souls do as well.

Let’s remember that God in word and sacrament is food for our souls.

Another resolution is to lose weight.  How do we lose weight spiritually?

My friends, sin are the ‘calories for the soul’ and it’s sin what weighs us down and burdens us spiritually.

                Sin is a real drag on us and prevents us from being in right relationship with God.

Sin keeps us from experiencing true joy and true peace in God because it adds unnecessary weight to our souls.

                Sin also is like having debt because it prevents us from being truly free.

In our second reading Paul addresses the Thessalonians:

Paul says:

“we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

Paul is telling the people to conduct themselves in a manner that pleases God.

What pleases God?  Eliminating sin in our lives is pleasing to God.

Let’s throw off the extra weight this Advent season. 

Let’s encounter Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation where we can lose the weight and debt of sin.  

Take advantage of the many reconciliation opportunities here at SSFC and at our surrounding parishes. 

Let’s meet Christ in this healing sacrament and lose some weight on our souls.

To get organized is another spiritual resolution that we may consider this Advent season.

Part of being organized is making plans and carrying them out.

The church reminds us with our Gospel reading to make plans that prepare us for the coming of Jesus.

We need to stay awake, to stay vigilant because we don’t know when our time is up on earth.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus points out the importance of being prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.  Jesus says:

“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

Jesus tells his disciples that they must stay awake and be ready at all times.

Dear friends, let’s quit procrastinating - now is the time!

Last week Fr. Vince talked about removing those obstacles from our lives that are hindering our relationship with God.

Pride, Indifference, Arrogance, Anger, Selfishness, & Time.

Let’s kick those obstacles and get organized by making spiritual plans as we prepare to meet Jesus. 

As we continue our Year of Faith this Advent season, let’s make our own lists of New Year’s resolutions for our souls.

Let’s eat better.  Let’s exercise more. Let’s lose some weight.  Let’s read more.

And let’s get organized as we wait for the coming of our savior Jesus.

Happy New Year!