In just a very short time, we will be beginning the season of Lent. Often, in the busyness of our lives, this holy season of Lent can creep up on us. All of a sudden it is Ash Wednesday, and we have done little to nothing to prepare for this penitential season.

As we continue on this Jubilee Year of Hope, February is the month of the Holy Family and Pope Francis has urged that “every family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth.” (Amoris laetitia, 30)

Happy New Year! As we begin 2025, many of us are making our traditional new year resolutions on how we might live our lives better, develop healthier habits, and so on.

This is also a great opportunity to consider spiritual new year resolutions, especially as we begin the Jubilee Year of Hope. There are many spiritual resolutions we might consider, but I would like to suggest three that will help us to grow in being witnesses of joy and hope in our world.

We have entered into a new liturgical year and also into the season of Advent. In the busyness and distractions of getting ready for Christmas and all of the holiday celebrations, it can become very easy for us to lose sight of the importance of the Advent season and the spiritual preparation that the Church is calling us to before Christmas.   

As we approach the end of November, we are nearing the end of our liturgical year and prepare to start a new year in Christ with the season of Advent. We end the liturgical year with the great Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe which reveals much about our times and the mission Jesus our King is entrusting to us.