Practicing the Faith: An Easy New Year’s Resolution for Joyful Living!

Even though the idea of making New Year’s resolutions is sometimes mocked since commitment to them throughout the year is lacking, I think there is something very good about this collective desire to make goals for the New Year. I am unaware of the origin of making New Year’s resolutions, but it reminds me of the beginnings of the liturgical seasons of Advent and especially Lent, when Christians resolve to commit themselves more intentionally to discipleship and the demands of the Gospel. Although making a New Year’s resolution could stem from an unhealthy perfectionism, I think, at its best, it comes from the perspective of humility: Contrary to what I may want to believe about myself, there are areas in my life that need attention and care, and I need to change to be more human.

            Many New Year’s resolutions deal with physical health, especially the resolution to exercise and shed those extra pounds gained at Christmas and New Year’s. Other resolutions fall under the category of behavioral or moral, such as spending more time with one’s family or resolving to quit smoking. All of these are well and good, but I would like to propose a New Year’s resolution for our spiritual health, namely “practicing the faith.”

            I want to make three points, based on the title of this post: Why does faith require practice? What makes practicing the faith easy? Why is practicing the faith joyful?

1)      We live in a time when being “spiritual but not religious” is in vogue, but institutionalized religion is at best, ignored, or at worst, attacked. To its credit, at least the desire to be “spiritual” departs from a worldview that is totally materialistic and secular. At the same time, I think the problem with being “spiritual but not religious,” insofar as “religious” implies adhering to specific doctrines and practices, is that I become the sole arbiter of my spiritual life. If I can simply pick and choose whatever suits my spiritual fancy, how do I know if I am growing, and what direction am I going? Is there a direction to my life, or am I simply self-medicating and calling it “spiritual”? We accept the need to practice in all sorts of areas (e.g. sports, music, education, art), but for some reason it is difficult to accept that I need to be “schooled” in spirituality and faith. Religious practice necessarily implies a true relationship, since I adhere to concrete demonstrations of love which have been given to me and which I offer to Another. To be in a real relationship with another always requires practice, and so it goes with faith.

2)      What does it mean to practice the faith, and why is that easy? At least in the Catholic tradition, the basics of religious practice are following the “Precepts of the Church.” With a title like that, it may seem intimidating, but I think you will soon see why I call this “easy.”

                                                                          i.      You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.

                                                                        ii.      You shall confess your sins at least once a year.

                                                                      iii.      You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.

                                                                      iv.      You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.

                                                                        v.      You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.

b.      The precepts are the basics to see if we have a spiritual heartbeat, so to speak. Not observing these might mean that, spiritually speaking, you are flatlining. Now, if I were your football coach, and I told you that you needed to show up for practice an hour a week, you would probably laugh at me and look for a more serious coach and a more intense team. Yet, sometimes the hour or so obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days is seen as some reprehensible burden; who could really keep to a commitment like this?! Here’s the point: God, speaking through the Church, is so gentle in His invitation of us to respond to His love. He asks for a commitment which is so much less than the time and energy we give to many of our cherished activities.

3)      Finally, practicing the faith is an invitation to true joy. That does not mean every moment is filled with happiness and good feelings (e.g. that person just sneezed into his hands and still is offering his hand to me for the Sign of Peace). Rather, the joy comes from habitually responding to the living God who first loved us, remaining in His love (John 15:9). Through the thick and thin of our lives and the various joys and tragedies that beset us, by practicing our faith we continuously receive and deepen our unchanging identity as sons and daughters of God. Personally, as someone who has just begun to taste this true joy through the practice of my faith, I simply cannot imagine what life would be without this living relationship with God. Without faith, I think I would have to say with Qoheleth, “vanity of vanities, all things are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

To you, dear reader, I hope this New Year is filled with true joy and renewed encounters with the Lord. Please pray for me as I pray for you, that we may become the saints God has made us to be.