Faith and Culture | New Year's resolutions, baptismal promises awaken us

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F. Javier Orozco

We now find ourselves in what the Catholic liturgical calendar calls "ordinary time." The great Advent and Christmas seasons are behind us. With the feast of the Epiphany, the taking down of the holiday decorations began and came to an end. Even the New Year's celebrations, glamour and excitement are gone.

What still linger in our minds are the New Year's resolutions. Many of us opted, once again, to engage the coming of the New Year as a time for personal inventory and renewal. With our imaginations rolling and our aspirations soaring we made clear resolutions.

Now, we find ourselves telling others that this year is the one. Our convictions and resolutions to exercise more, to read more, to be more patient and kind, to eat less chocolate, and a myriad of other promises will -- for sure -- be fulfilled in unprecedented manner -- and unlike years in the past, this year will be different.

In highlighting this time of promise-making, the intention is not to be sarcastic or cynical, but to point to the resilience of the human spirit. While it is true that some may have chosen to go the way of negativity, there is still the other half who still hold fast to this yearly ritual.

The fact that many of us choose to re-evaluate our lives in this timely manner speaks to the human propensity to seek out personal and social transformation. Year after year, we have come to value this calendar threshold as an opportunity to transform not only ourselves, but the world around us.

From a Catholic cultural and faith perspective, this time of transformation is akin to our commitment to ongoing conversion or metanoia. This basic Christian belief that each of us is called to ongoing change of mind and heart is real and meaningful to us, especially as we look for ways to live out our faith in real time and history.

We know all too well that our failed attempts to live up to our Christian values can never ultimately deflate our desire and energy to do better. Indeed, our whole Christian narrative is full of stories that exemplify the contrary: Christ is our Victor.

We fail from time to time. But we have our moments of grace, especially when we see the positive and good consequences of our actions. In a real sense, our New Year's resolutions signal for us the deeper mystery in Christ: that moment when our family and the community of faith brought us to the baptismal waters of transformation and liberation. In the baptismal water and in the promises that were made with and for us, the seed of ongoing transformation was planted.

Being baptized in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" meant then and now that our lives would grow in faith and would be full of new resolutions along the way. In this sacramental gesture of word and symbol, our personal identity continues to be renewed in Christ.

I suspect that many will find consolation in knowing that our baptismal promises are for us to keep and to live out on a daily basis. Like the saints before us and in front of us, we are called by the Spirit of God to live faithfully our baptismal identity. St. Therese de Lisieux reminds us that our call to holiness is a matter of living out our Christian charity in little, ordinary ways.

As we continue to become increasingly aware of our personal resolutions -- big and small -- we remember that our hope is not in vain. After all, our hope and trust is not in human knowledge, alone, but in the wisdom found in God: "Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Yahweh and whose confidence is in Him! He is like a tree planted by the water; sending out its roots towards the stream. He has no fear when the heat comes, His leaves are always green; the year of drought is no problem, and He can always bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

As Catholic Christians, we hold dear to the promise that has been handed down to us from generation to generation. And we remember the gift we have in Jesus Christ, in whom all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

Orozco is director of Hispanic ministry for the archdiocese.