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| Pope Francis |
Have you made any New Year’s resolutions this year? If not, and you’d still like to, Pope Francis has some ideas. These are the ten things that he called upon Vatican employees to do:
– “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”
– “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”
– “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”
– “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”
– “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”
– “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”
– “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”
– “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”
– “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”
It’s a good list: it’s clearly rooted in Catholic teachings, but presented in a way that non-Catholics can embrace (I discovered this list via a Protestant friend who had posted it on Facebook, in fact). And I think that all of us can find on this list at least one or two resolutions that speak to areas in which we really need to grow. Hope this helps, and happy New Year!
My resolutions for the New Year:
1. Finish reading the “Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas”, 2. Try to put into practice what he teaches. 3. Spread the same by word and example to others. 4. Keep digesting the excellent articles found here on Shameless Popery. 5. Spread them to others when the occasions occur. 6. Distribute 50,000, or more, local Catholic Radio station cards to others, so that they might grow in the faith while commuting to work each day.
By doing these, I will be actively putting the ‘New Evangelization’ into practice during this new year.
Looks like only nine bullet points from the pope. This is not a criticism, merely an observation. I pray to sow each of these in my heart this year, with God’s help. Amen
Like. 😊
“…laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; …”
can someone explain this for me?
Ok.. Here is my personal translation.. Three parts due to iPad limitations.
Part 1 :ex·is·ten·tial
ˌeɡzəˈsten(t)SH(ə)l/
adjective
of or relating to existence.
PHILOSOPHY
concerned with existence, especially human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism.
LOGIC
(of a proposition) affirming or implying the existence of a thing.
Part 2: eu·tha·na·sia
ˌyo͞oTHəˈnāZH(ē)ə,ˌyo͞oTHəˈnāzēə/
noun
the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. The practice is illegal in most countries.
synonyms: mercy killing, assisted suicide; rarequietus
“both veterinarians recommended euthanasia as the most merciful procedure”
s
ˈlāzēnəs/
noun
the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness.
“it was sheer laziness on my part”
If I put this together, without proper translation of what he actually said, I take this to say “use God’s gifts of intellect (science, mathematics) and heart ( love, intuition) and apply what we learn to help instead of just accepting the status quo (aka; being lazy). Go, fight, win!
Danielle, thanks.
I believe it means not be lazy, not doing the things you ought to do, such as the ones God has called us too. As by not doing anything productive of fruitful, you are as good as already dead, hence existential euthanasia (not really existing/early death).
Yep. For the new year I made a new blog. Only two posts and you’ve already snuck in there. 🙂 http://oothew.wordpress.com Thanks for this. Good resolutions for us all.
Erica,
That’s great, thanks! Would you do me a favor? When you get a chance, if you feel comfortable, could you share a bit about your conversion story, and then link to it here? Thanks, and God bless!
Joe
I’m working on that now. But law school applications…
Believe me, I get it. They’re a beast. Where are you hoping to go, if you don’t mind my asking? And which school do you attend right now?
Right now I attend Charleston Southern University. I’d really really really like to go to Catholic University of America. But my LSAT is not so hot. (My GPA is awesome, but I doubt they care.)
Here’s a program that might help you in your school search: it looks at your GPA and LSAT, compares it with prior admissions of various law schools, and estimates your likelihood. The middle 50% of students admitted at Catholic had between a 150-157. Another 25% had below that. On the GPA side, the middle 50% was between 2.97 and 3.37.
Obviously, other factors go into it, so don’t be too discouraged: there’s no way to quantify the impact of good extracurriculars, a good personal essay, and the countless various personal factors.
I.X.,
Joe