The common trend is to make resolutions at the start of the new year.  Catholic spirituality encourages us to make resolutions daily. Resolutions are made to start something new, especially, when we give up old ways. Repentance signifies a new start. When we repent, God immediately forgives us and gives us a new start. For us, this new start is to make a commitment to give up all wrongdoings and amend our lives, according to God’s ways. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we receive absolutions for our sins and a new start. Daily examination of conscience is a renowned Catholic practice, whereby, we examine our actions, our words, and our thoughts, to check if they are according to God’s will. It helps us to reflect on our doings, to repent, to correct our ways, and to make resolutions, that helps us to fulfill the will of God. Repentance and resolutions go hand in hand.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1431) states that Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time, it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace ….

There’s great joy in repentance, when our sins are forgiven and when God gives us a new start. It’s like taking off ragged clothes and wearing new garments, or like being washed away from all dirt and made clean and new again. In the book of Lamentations, chapter 3, it mentions that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. We don’t have to wait once a year to repent but receive God’s mercy every day.

When we repent, it is not just us rejoicing but the entire heaven rejoices with us. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents … (Luke 15:7). Resolutions help us continue with the rejoicing, by helping us develop virtues, that help us to accomplish good works. Resolutions provide guidance for our life. Most people tend to make temporal resolutions, such as losing weight, gaining muscles, eating healthy, etc. Although, such resolutions are good in itself, they do not provide us any eternal benefits. Our resolutions must be more focused on developing virtues, loving God, and undertaking works that help us become more meritorious and gain eternal rewards. Resolutions that help us advance in our spiritual lives can be praying effectively, reading scriptures, doing corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and living sacrificially.

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