Pope Francis’ Suggested New Year’s Resolutions
The new year is here! The slate is clean and there are plenty of opportunities for you to make your life more meaningful and make a difference in other lives. What amazing aspirations are you going to achieve this year?
At the end of the year, Pope Francis made nine inspirational recommendations for spiritual and personal growth in 2015. No matter what your religious preference is, these incredible ideas can help you fulfill your life and be a blessing to others.
1. “Care for your spiritual life, your relationship with God,” he said was the first, because “this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”
2. Care for your family life, “giving to your children and your loved ones not only money, but above all time, attention and love.”
3. Heal your relationships with others, transforming faith in life and words into good works, especially for those most in need.
4. Watch how you speak: “Purifying the language from the offensive words, vulgarity and phraseology of worldly decadence.”
5. Forgive: “healing the wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness,” which means forgiving people who have hurt us and medicating wounds we have caused in others.
6. Work “with enthusiasm, humility, skill, passion, and with a soul that knows how to thank the Lord.”
7. Avoid envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings “that devour our inner peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”
8. Let go of “the bitterness that brings us to revenge,” “the laziness that leads to euthanasia,” “the finger-pointing that leads to pride,” and “the complaining that constantly leads us to despair.”
9. Reach out to the weak, elderly, sick, hungry, homeless and foreigners. For this will determine how we will be judged.
Making resolutions for the upcoming or current year are wonderful ways to move forward on your walk with God. In our everyday lives we need to ensure every deed, thought and action clearly indicates that we are children of God—even as it pertains to how we handle our finances. Learn more about Biblical stewardship from Compass Catholic today.
