Pope Francis’ Suggested New Year’s Resolutions (1/2/2015)
Meeting with Vatican employees before Christmas – mainly people with families
- “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”
- “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”
- “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”
- “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”
- “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”
- “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”
- “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”
- “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”
- “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the
hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.