My New Year Resolutions

According to my fb reminders, I wrote the blog article ‘2014 - A Year of Enrichment’ this day last year. Now, however, I would like to write about my new year’s resolutions instead. The word ‘resolutions’ may sound a bit weighty. But there are indeed a few things I hope to achieve in the year 2016. 

On top of the list is a planned pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I have chosen this destination among the different options available for several reasons. Firstly, this being the Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Frances has ardently advised on the participation in pilgrimages. Besides, I have long craved for an opportunity to visit the Holy Land to search for the footprints of our Lord in his brief life on earth. This had not been possible in the previous years because the tours offered often took place on school days. Now that I have retired, the date of the pilgrimage will not be an important consideration. Moreover, the Bible course ‘Bible in Eighty Weeks’, which I have been attending for more than a year, will come to an end in January and the pilgrimage is organized as a post-course activity especially intended for us attendants. I would enjoy the companionship of those with whom I have been sharing about the Bible verses every Tuesday over the past year. 

The past year has seen me spiritually enhanced through my participation in the Bible course, both as a regular group leader (a reading companion) and occasionally an inputter ( a course instructor). Another spiritual commitment is my work of translation for a book entitled ‘The Story of the Mass’. However, with the imminent termination of both the course and the translation work, I need to seek to take on other responsibilities to ensure my further spiritual pursuit. I will avail myself of church services within my ability. This will require my enthusiastic involvement in activities initiated by the few religious groups of which I am a member. 

One important ‘project’ I have attempted to carry out for years but with little success is to clean up the messes in my living environment. The messes include books and folders piling up on desks and shelves. Also waiting to be sorted and disposed of are clothes of different seasons. I am well aware of the need to do something before the wardrobes finally burst  open, scattering the content on the floor. The PC and the tablet are also yearning for more storage space. There are steps I can take to effectively solve the problems. But unfortunately, when to start and what to start with is itself a problem. 

 A new year brings hope.  My hope is to start the  year with renewed strength of persistence to get the necessary things done. For this, I will pray hard and strive hard.