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Always Beginning Anew

As I begin a New Year, I find myself looking back on 2022 and reflecting on how well I did or did not realize what I had hoped for in that year. My look back caused me to pause in February when the ambitions of one autocratic world leader brought inexcusable violence and suffering to the people of Ukraine and the entire world has felt its negative effects ever since. Our resolutions to stay safe and healthy will need to be sustained in the coming year and perhaps for the foreseeable future. And Pope Francis’s call in Ladauto Si continues to challenge and motivate me to live more mindfully.

As I ponder what my resolution might be for 2023, I know if I am overly ambitious I will be quickly disappointed and discouraged. Yet I still want to choose something that will make a positive difference, something that has meaning for me, but that will make a difference for others as well.One thing I know that I have hoped for in the past and certainly long for in the future is that PEACE which the world cannot give. And so it was with the sense of gift and grace and the answer to my forever questioning that I discovered this reflection by Nan Merrill:

O friends, be not anxious about the past, for whatever was is gone; worry not about the future, tomorrow has yet to be created. Be ever mindful of the eternal now, for all you think and feel and do
creates your future;
the present moment is yours to choose.

Abandon yourself to the divine laws of love; thus will peace, order, and assurance bless your life. Surrender to the divine Light within, where wisdom dwells; listen for the still small, voice, the inner counselor, whose truth will set you free that your soul might soar.

May we grow together in the realization of God’s Peace in the New Year.

Sister Anne Marie Diederich