Dear Parishioners,

As we enter into the Jubilee year 2025, I think the thing we all need to work more on is the virtue of charity. Here are some examples. This past year, the election cycle was way more heated than normal with people treating political opponents like a Communist or a Nazi. I have noticed a rise in vitriol online not to mention the spread of misinformation which has been a problem for a while. Also, people even applauded the murder and attempted murder of certain disliked individuals.

Charity is the most important of the virtues because it most directly relates to God. We should love God for His own sake and our neighbors because we love God. You can pretty much sum up the moral life as acting with charity. In fact, if you cannot do something out of charity, then you probably shouldn’t do it at all. So, for a New Years resolution, here are some ways to practice charity in your life:

• Control your speech. Don’t immediately talk back to people. Think about how your words may affect others before you speak. Try to phrase things in the kindest way possible. Don’t tear down people behind their back.
• Give to the poor. Either money or time.
• Help others in some sort of ministry like bringing communion to the sick, visiting the sick or volunteering in some social service.
• Do your best to understand why people believe what they believe even if you disagree with them.
• Pray for people, especially those who you really do not like.
• Reach out to people you care about but have not seen for a long while.
• Be kind to others, even strangers.
• Thank God even when things don’t go according to plan.

Also, we should avoid sins that contradict charity. These include: indifference (not thinking about God’s goodness), ingratitude, lukewarmness (not responding to God’s goodness), spiritual sloth, hatred of

God, envy, violence, discord and scandal. There are many benefits to living a charitable life. As the Catechism says, “The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.” (CCC 1829)

God Bless!

Fr. Carter