As we enter into our Archdiocese’s Third Pastoral Priority – Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of our Society, let us reflect on how we can develop our spirituality during 2014.
Today many people are using new technology to help them maintain their resolutions. There are many free/cheap apps that one can download onto a smartphone or tablet to help achieve one’s goals. As Douglas Saunders, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, says: “The best resolutions are specific, measurable, achievable, rewardable and timely. And, because tech never sleeps, apps can help people remember what they need to do to achieve their new goals.”
Aleksandra Sagan tells us that “the best apps allow users to program reminders for activities such as workout sessions…Many apps help individuals track their progress by employing charts, graphs and other infographics”. But those techniques really only work when someone is succeeding at his or her goal, says Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto.
“These progress visualisations can backfire if the person either stops progressing or starts regressing. To prevent this, the best apps integrate a social experience. This not only motivates users to impress others but also provides a community to support someone who is slipping up – similar to Weight Watchers or the Alcoholics Anonymous buddy system.”
What’s the app for helping us maintain our spiritual resolutions? The readings in today’s liturgy highlight the apps we should be using. The Baptism of Jesus outlined in today’s Gospel, Matthew 3:13-17, should remind us of the reason why Jesus came, and of our own baptism/baptismal promises. Let us keep these in the forefront of our minds during 2014.
The Eucharist is the app we need: to nourish us; to promote our spiritual growth; to interiorise and practise Christian morals and values; to navigate/overcome the internal and external challenges we will face during the year; to help us preach the joy of the Gospel.
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2014 gives us an opportunity to renew our commitment to live as followers of Jesus. My spiritual resolution for 2014 is that I will learn to love God more deeply and to demonstrate that I love my neighbour as myself. One way of doing this will be to dig deep and find “new ardour, new methods and a new expression for a New Evangelisation”.
Let us pledge that during 2014 we will SEE, JUDGE, and ACT so that God’s plan for humankind will prevail. Pray that God will open our eyes so that we may embrace values and virtues that will promote integral human development (the development of each person and of all aspects of a person), and build the common good.
As the 19th century writer, A W Pink (1886 – 1952) said: “Spiritual growth will not be promoted while we remain indifferent and inactive, but only as we give the utmost diligence to attending unto the health of our souls…spiritual growth is entirely dependent on receiving fresh supplies of grace from God,…it is my responsibility and duty to diligently and confidently seek the same.”
In a world in which “individualism” is rampant, it is important to remind ourselves that we are totally dependent on God. Blessed John Paul II reminded us that Jesus’ statement “without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) is a truth that “constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness”.
But remember that we have free will which could lead us away from God. As St Augustine said: “God does not act in us, as if we were lifeless stone or irrational creatures without free will.” But no matter how far we fall, we can repent and God will forgive us. Filled with His grace, we can rise again. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:10 are instructive: “I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace, that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless.”
As John Newton said in his hymn, Amazing Grace: “’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”
