Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

If you haven't made New Year's resolutions yet, here is some help from Pope Francis! – “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...

Every year I have a mini-dilemma: should I ‘do’ resolutions? What do I want to change about myself? What do I need to do better? How can I be better, holier, freer? The list goes on. However I did come up with one life change for this year which I can share with you. Here comes 2014: a resolution- pray, simply pray and pray simply! God's in control. The New Year unfolds like pages in a book yet to be written, bringing hope and endless possibilities. When I look at 2013 and some of the things that went wrong or disappointments or let-downs which I felt, one word comes to mind: HOPE. I hope for better days. I hope that I can be true to myself. I hope. Hope comes from God and this is the only way that all things can be possible with Him if we do them in the name of Jesus his Son. For the Feast of the Holy Family, we had that lovely reading from the Letter to the Colossians (3,12-21), it reminds us: “ And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord...

I don't know about you but every year I try and make some resolutions for the New Year. Some of them last a week ...some actually last the year! As you think about your own possible resolutions, here are some which gave me a little giggle! Thanks to Deacon Greg Kendra over here for this...slight modifications were made to it for the European readership! Catholic New Year's Resolutions: I resolve to arrive at Mass early. Before arriving for Mass, I resolve to turn off my mobile phone, or at least put it on “vibrate.” I resolve to go to the bathroom before I leave home, so I don’t have to stand outside the bathroom for most of Mass, hopping from foot to foot. During the warmer months, I resolve not to wear to Mass that tube top that looked so great the night before at the KISS concert. I resolve not to wear shorts to Sunday Mass unless I’m under the age of five. I will refrain from leaving prayers for St. Jude all over the place. I will not feed my children cook...