The beginning of a new year is a perfect time for renewal, and it is with that thought in mind that many of us will be making New Year’s resolutions. These resolutions tend to focus on making meaningful and lasting changes that will ultimately better our lives. Some of the most common include losing weight, exercising, becoming organized or quitting a bad habit. These are important and worthwhile goals to focus on and I have made similar resolutions for myself in the past. However, one area of our lives often needing improvement, but we tend to forget about is our relationship with God.
Knowing that God’s love for us is so great and that he is always there for us can lead us to take him for granted. Our relationship with him is not meant to be a one-way street. Often, we wait around for God to perform actions that show his love for us, but it should be the other way around. We are not meant to be passive partners in our relationship with God. We must actively work to show our love for him. God’s love for us is abundant and he wants us to return that love with all our hearts. There are multiple things we can do to show our love for God such as praying, giving thanks, going to Mass, reading scripture, and attending Eucharistic Adoration. Spending time with God is important as it helps to foster our relationship and show our love for him. God is always there, eager to engage with us, he is just waiting for us to join him.
In thinking of ways to show our love for God, I am also reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that story there was a lawyer who asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In response, Jesus tells the story of a man who was robbed, beaten and left half dead. Several people walked past him or moved to the other side of the road without stopping to help. Then a Samaritan traveler stopped, took him to an inn and cared for him. At the end of the story Jesus asks, “Which of these, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The man replied, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus then said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Showing compassion and treating others with mercy is one of the greatest ways to show our love for God and as explained in the parable, Jesus is calling us to this very action. Mercy and compassion are in desperate need in our world right now and there are many things we can do to act on Jesus’s commandment. We can provide for the poor through monetary donations or gifts of our time. We can visit those in need of companionship or care for the sick. We can give a kind greeting or a smile to a person on the street, let someone go in front of us in traffic, hold the door open as we walk into a store or call a friend just to see how they are doing. We encounter people in need every day as we go about our lives, some are visibly in need but for others, their need is not readily apparent. This is an important reminder that we should not judge people as only God knows what is in their heart or what crosses they are currently carrying. We should show care and compassion, no matter the situation, and in all our interactions we should stop and think about how Jesus might handle the encounter.
As Pope Francis stated in a July 2022 message, “‘Lord, that I might see and have compassion just like you see me and have compassion on me’ — that we might have compassion on those whom we encounter along the way, above all on those who suffer and are in need, to draw near to them and do what we can do to give them a hand.”
With many of our resolutions, we tend to make it only a few months and then inevitably face a setback. Our reaction to those setbacks can be like falling off a mechanical bull; we are proud of how long we lasted and then resign ourselves to trying again next year. When the reality is, we need to get right back on and continue to do so each time we fall off. Our relationship with God is the same way. We are going to have bad days where we forget to pray, do not offer thanks, do not show compassion, or do not do the right thing when given the opportunity but we need to ask for forgiveness, repent and then remember to approach all situations with humility and kindness.
Mercy, respect, and compassion toward others are the living embodiment of the love that God revealed to us through the gift of his son. So, as we enter the new year, let us make a resolution to actively spend more time with God and to continually show our love for him through our actions.
Have a Blessed and Happy New Year!