December 31, the last day of the calendar year, is a day on which for the last almost 70 years I have reflected on the past year, on how well I am living the commitment I made to choose God’s will in all things.* The day will end like the last day of previous years with the renewal of my vows. This year I will use the Gospel’s Epiphany story of the Magi and King Herod to reflect on my own personal progress in moving away from protecting and furthering myself (as Herod tried to do), and recalibrate my life by cooperating with God’s drawing me toward the only mindset that will make me truly happy: surrendering myself to the Spirit-initiated breath of Love that leads our God to step down into the mess we humans, myself included, are creating. I welcome this day of surrender to the GPS-like “re-calculating” that the Spirit of God is ready to make when we Herods are going in the wrong direction.
ANNUAL, MONTHLY AND DAILY RECALIBRATION
I recommend that, if you and your family lack such a tradition, you consider beginning one now. Spend a few quiet hours today or tomorrow remember that God is with you – always here, so often totally unnoticed. Ponder how well you lived during the past year, how true you were to the most important promises of your life, be they vows to God or to a significant person in your life, perhaps even to yourself or to a parent, child or neighbor, how well you loved justice and walked humbly with your God. (It may help to remember that, made in the “image and likeness of God”, we are not meant to be self-appointed Herod’s creating and maintaining our own worlds. [Isn’t that what Adam and Eve tried to do?] We are meant to be a Trinity – a community of persons, connecting with each other with bonds that generate a spirit of Love.)
And then end the day or begin the next day with attendance at a special Mass where you promise to live the coming year starting anew on your recalibrated journeying into a fuller awareness of God who always comes into the messiness we humans create. Why? Because God is the Love that our hearts have been made to long for. (God wants us to get there!) It is only in longing for God that we will be happy.
Let the Spirit of Love and the example of Jesus illumine our way as we travel together through the coming year’s journeying into God.
S. Loretta
PS. Maybe, as my religious life training recommends, set aside the first Sunday of every month for some recalibrating, too. And take time at the end of each day to look at what happened during the day and how you think you “lived” the day. Perhaps ask God for guidance.
* Remember those life-long promises made at Baptism, First Communions, Confirmation, wedding ceremonies, child-births. death of loved ones?
