A Blessed New Year!

A blessed New Year!

Let me catch you while the year is still fresh to suggest a couple resolutions.

There are a few promises we can make for 2012, during these first days of the first week of the New Year, about the first things in life.

Number one:  first thing, every day, is a morning offering.  Our first thought daily is of the Lord.  We wake-up because of Him; we got through the night because of Him; we’ll make-it through this new day only because of His grace and mercy.  No wonder, then, that, as soon as we awake, we think of Him in prayer:  we tell Him we love Him, we need Him, we thank Him, we trust Him, and we offer the new day to Him in a morning offering.

Number two:  first day, every week, is Sunday Mass.  It’s the Lord’s Day, our sabbath, the day of His resurrection.  We catch our breath from the just concluded week and place the coming week in His providential hands.  No better way to do that than in joining our spiritual family, the Church, in the most sacred Sunday meal of all, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, first thing, first day of the week, on Sunday.

Number three:  First Friday, every month, we approach the sacrament of penance.  Remember the beautiful custom of First Friday?  It’s a long shot, but I wish it could be revived.  Jesus died on the cross to save us on a Friday.  The first Friday of every month we tell Him we’re sorry for our sins, and ask the mercy of His most Sacred Heart, with a good confession.  Not bad . . .

We have a God of newness; we have a God always eager to give us a fresh start.

Everyday, first thing, a morning offering;

Every week, first day, Sunday Mass;

Every month, first Friday, confession.

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. . . .”

A blessed New Year!