Dear Parishioners,

Today is New Years Eve and it is rightfully a time of rejoicing for all that God has given you, and looking forward to the future. It is also a time to reflect on our lives and to see whether or not we have progressed.

Often people make New Years resolutions at this time. They set themselves to do something to either improve themselves, help others or to get rid of some sort of fault. But, even if you do not have that practice, it is good to think about whether or not you are where you expected to be at the beginning of the year. So, I offer you the following questions to ask yourself.

• How have you changed in the last year?
• Do you like how you have changed?
• What could you have done better?
• What is your biggest achievement in the last year?
• What is something you wanted to do but did not get to do last year?
• What do you wish you did more or less of last year?
• Where have you seen God’s blessing in the last year?
• What are you really thankful for?
• Are you excited about anything upcoming in the next year?

There are two main reasons that it is good to reflect on the year. First, we can sometimes miss that we are growing and changing since it happens gradually. When we take a moment to measure ourselves, we can be quite surprised at how much we do change. Second, we should be mindful of how we spend our time. We do not live forever, and we should want to spend the time we have in the most fruitful way possible. Yet, day to day, we make tons of decisions to waste the time we have on what does not give joy, or we miss opportunities when they present themselves.

I hope you all had a great year and I’ll pray that 2024 is even better!

God bless!

Fr. Carter