Pope Francis' Advice for New Year's Resolutions

Pope Francis has the following suggestions for our New Year's Resolutions in 2015--they're good challenges for all of us! 

1. Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.
2. Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.
3. Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.
4. Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.
5. Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.
6. Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.
7. Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.
8. Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.
9. Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.

May God gives us the grace, courage and persistence to do these things!

A "To Do" List for Pope Francis

I am pretty sure that in the blitzkrieg of events that unfold within ninety minutes or so--from finding out he received 2/3 of the vote from his brother cardinals, to accepting the position, to the white smoke, to choosing a name, to being dressed in papal garb, to praying in the chapel for a few short moments-- that this was the moment, as he was being introduced to the world as Pope Francis (seen here), that the enormity of his responsibility must have hit him. 

It's always interesting to listen to people talk during these times of papal transition. We have a tendency to project our own hopes onto the "new guy". Some of my more conservative friends were thrilled when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict, believing that "God's Rottweiler" would clean the Church's house of all the so-called "liberals" in universities, seminaries and chanceries. Many commentators this time around have clearly been intrigued with Pope Francis' humility and seem hopeful that the pomp and circumstance that has developed over the last two thousand years around the papacy will melt away. I doubt it!  Pomp isn't itself wrong, except to the extent it becomes the "ends" and not the "means" of elevating the papacy to be a more effective instrument of Christ. 

I have my own "to do" list for Pope Francis, no doubt influenced by my own biases and hopes. Here they are: 

1) My greatest prayer is that he will lead the worldwide Church to build a deeper relationship with Christ, receive the sacraments more frequently, and participate more fully in the life of the Church.  

2) May he re-present the papacy as the gospels represent Christ, who lived simply, preached boldly and eschewed worldly wealth, fame or glory.

3) May Pope Francis take seriously God’s directive to St. Francis: “Go, rebuild my church” by reforming the Vatican curia from within.  The pettiness, careerism and backbiting is destructive to the Church’s witness and diminishes the papacy.  

4) May he speak boldly against all forms of abuse and direct bishops to deal strongly and swiftly with priests against whom credible accusations are made.

5) May he use his standing as the first pope from Latin America to travel extensively in these countries, so as to embolden the faithful to stand up against corruption, poverty, drug trafficking, and prostitution--much like JPII emboldened Poland to stand against communism.

That's a pretty daunting set of tasks, especially for a seventy-six year old man!   May God give him the strength, stamina and courage to do these things.