As we begin the New Year, a common practice and point of conversation involves New Year’s resolutions.Those resolutions are often rather soft commitments often related to passing goals (I need to lose five pounds, I need to keep my house a little more picked up).For the most part, by the middle of January those resolutions are as forgotten as the Christmas lights we’ve packed up and put away.

 

Still, the beginning of the New Year can be an appropriate moment for a more serious effort.Each New Year means that we are drawing closer to the moment when Jesus calls us home. We are that much closer to the unknown time when we will stand before the Lord to render to Him an accounting for our souls.

 

The New Year should motivate us to review the status of our faith and our love for Jesus who was born for us in Bethlehem.

 

The idea of standing in judgment before God often is presented as a moment of fear, a time when only our sins will somehow be laid bare. But because of our hope in the Lord, it need not be that way.

 

Think, for example of the Gospel parable (Mt 25:14-30) of the master who gave each of his servants different talents.When the servants with the five and the two talents give their report and hand over to their master what they have earned, it is striking that they do so without any sign of fear.

 

We might wonder if they could have done better with their talents. And the answer is yes. Like us they are flawed and sinful human beings. But the master is pleased with them because they have respected him, they have respected their talents and they have given their best effort.

 

In contrast, the servant with the one talent is obviously ashamed as he reports to the master. But we can see why. He buried and therefore did not use his talent. He knows he should have done better. But in the time given him, he did not. The master even calls him lazy.

 

The point is that at this beginning of a New Year, it is a good time to review the state of our faith, and therefore of our soul. How are we doing with the gifts and talents that God has given us? We should ask ourselves, how much longer we have to seek a return on what God has entrusted to us.

 

Rather than passing New Year’s resolutions, each of us might ask first about the state of our prayer life.

 

Do I pray daily? 

 

Do I pray not only asking for what I might need (or want), but do I pray in a conversation with Jesus?

 

Do I ask Him what He wants of me?

 

Is my faith fully in accord with that of the teaching of the Catholic Church that was established and guided by Christ?

 

In particular, in this morally challenging time, is my moral life in any way separated from Church teaching?

 

What about my commitment to my family, to honest dealing with others, to aiding the poor and the needy?

 

Just as for all those in the Gospel who received talents, the task given to us is never complete. There is always more. But at the start of another year, the time is now for us to take real stock of our situation, then work on it throughout the year.

 

In the end our goal is like that of those servants.We want to hear the words, “Well done, faithful servant. Come, share your master’s joy.”