Greetings, beloved in Christ, and Happy New Year. I can hardly believe that 2024 is already here. I don’t know what practices you have around the turn of the new year, but for me, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I do what I call my annual examen. The practice of Ignatian Examen is a part of my daily spiritual work. I do it every day. But at the end of the year and at the turn of the new year, I do an annual examen. That work consists of first giving thanks. I thank God for the year that has passed. I thank God for the health that has been afforded me. I thank God for the friends and family that have been part of my life. I thank God for all of the blessings that I have received. Then with my calendar in front of me, I review the past year, the things I did, the places I went, and I look specifically for those places that I saw God at work.

And then I review. I review my actions over the last year, specifically looking for those times where my behavior brought me closer to God and those times where it pushed me away. And then I repent. Repent of the ways that I have failed to communicate the faith that is in me. Repent of the ways that I have not lived up to my own promises of baptism. And then I look forward to the new year, to the ways that I can improve my life, my ministry, the ways that I can improve my interactions with others, the ways that I can more actively seek God in all that I do, and commend myself to those practices for the new year. Whatever your ritual is around the new year, I hope that you will include some time to reflect on how you are living out your faith, on how closely you are following in the footsteps of Jesus, and spend time discerning how God might be calling you in this new year to new life and to ministry. I wish you a blessed new year.