As we begin the new year of 2017, we hear the talk of things like a “new beginning” or “turning over a new leaf.” New Year’s resolutions too are much discussed. Experience shows, however, that the simple turn of the page on the calendar rarely changes much of anything in people’s lives and conduct.

Year to year, personal attitudes and those of the society we live in seem mostly built on what has gone on in the recent past or on what surrounds us now. The change of heart that ushers in a lasting improvement in the soul rarely finds itself triggered by the change of year.

Priests who counsel the doubtful and hear confessions throughout the year can attest that free will responding to God’s grace leads to better spiritual lives at any time.

This year, however, there is an undeniable anxiety in the air related to change coming in the New Year.

It has to do with the end of the eight years of the Obama presidency and the beginning of the Trump presidency on Jan. 20.

As happens every time there is a change of administration, those who supported the losing candidate write, lament and even protest as if what is coming is the end of the world as we know it. Conversely, those who supported the winner typically seek to extend the election results as if there were a societal consensus and a mandate for the winner, even if the victory was modest.

This year, the divide between the two camps in our electoral process is further exacerbated by the polarization of our society. Sadly, on both sides of our politics we have come to expect a certain ruthlessness and even vulgarity as candidates and supporters contrast their visions and attack each other.

Political divisions strongly held and debated are not new to our history. To read the rhetoric of past debates, such as at the time of the Civil War, is to see how personal and heartfelt the contrasts were. But what sets our age apart from the past is the growing effort to deal with each other and with our problems without a common moral and ethical framework.

As our culture becomes increasingly secular, by definition the role of God in our public discourse and in our policy becomes diminished. So too, does the reason for respecting each other in our politics and our differences because we see the dignity of God written in each person.

With the exclusion of God growing in our public life, our society and our culture are increasingly becoming hollowed out by self-doubt and an inability to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong. As a result, it is difficult for our political structures to solve our problems, even as they take on a larger role in the lives of citizens and private associations.

Without a reference to God, as we find for example in the documents of the founding of our country, we rely only on human efforts. Invariably, such human efforts come up short. And typically they devolve into another form of the powerful dominating the weak.

Rather than paying exclusive concern to our politics, we would do well to return to the basics of our human nature and of faith. How many of our problems in society and in our families would be addressed and even resolved if we were to emphasize in ourselves lives of virtue?

That would mean resolving anew to make our judgments with prudence, seeking what is truly good. For that we will need God’s Word and the guidance of the Church along with our human reason.

To live with virtue will mean seeking justice, toward each other and at the same time toward God who has created us and will call all one day to judgment before Him.

It will mean living with fortitude, the courage to hold on to what is right. Fortitude is also the resolve of faith that is willing to sacrifice and go through trials in order to hold fast to what is true and what is of God.

Finally, a virtuous life will be marked by temperance. It means that we will have the character and the faith to master our will to use moderately and rightly the consolations and goods of this world. How important is temperance in a materialistic society such as ours.

Of course our politics and those who govern us will have a necessary place in life. We know that they will inevitably combine to do some good and often some harm to us, especially in a pluralistic society.

Still, more important for each of us is the life of faith lived in virtue. That is what strengthens our families and our personal character. And in the end, it strengthens our country and our politics.