The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

God has graciously permitted us to live to see another year, at the beginning of which very significantly stands the name of Jesus, whereby we are admonished that we should not, like the pagans of old, pass from the old to the new year in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and impurities, but in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, in pious meditations and religious exercises. The old year is past, never to return, but not as if it had never been, for whatever we have done during its course, be it good or evil, is recorded in the book of life and will merit for us on the day of judgment either eternal salvation or eternal ruin. The same may be said of the new year, if God preserves us during its course. As rational beings, therefore, and still more as Catholics, we cannot frivolously and thoughtlessly pass from the old to the new year.

We should bid adieu to the old year with thanks and gratitude. The past year has been a friend from whom we have received many benefits; we should therefore not let it pass without sorrow and without bidding adieu to it with a grateful heart.

God has preserved our life during the past year. There are many dead today who were with us at this time last year. The wars, natural disasters, disease, and old age have taken their tolls on many lives, but God has seen fit that we are still here. Our lives have been spared so that we may work out our salvation. Have we not reason to thank God today for this grace with a most grateful heart? If we have been obliged to work hard this past year we should again be thankful that we have been given the health and strength that was necessary. If we have been forced to bear with any difficulty whatsoever (illness, unemployment, poverty, hunger, etc.) there is still cause to thank God. We have been found worthy to suffer for Him. He has seen fit that we have not been destroyed by these problems in the past year, but has given us the grace to struggle on and to survive.

A still greater debt of gratitude is owed to God for the many spiritual benefits that He has given us. The graces of God are so numerous and so wonderful one scarcely knows were to begin or end. Every salutary thought, every interior inspiration and impulse to good, and every motion of the conscience which endeavored to deter us from evil and urge us to good _ were they not all graces which God imparted to us for the salvation of our souls? The good lessons and corrections which we received so frequently, the good examples which pious Catholics set before us, what else were they than graces for our salvation? The Masses we assisted at both physically and spiritually; the sacraments we received, what are all these but graces for which we can never be sufficiently grateful? And let us have great compunction of heart as we say good bye to last year, because of the many sins and negligences of which we have been guilty.

Let us welcome the New Year with confidence in God, good people, and our clergy. God is in control of everything, and He arranges so that all things work for the good of those who love Him. Therefore we have nothing to fear from the New Year. There are people whose hearts are cold, upon whom the woes of others make no impression, who even make use of their neighbor's need for their own advantage. Of this class are usurers and the avaricious. Nonetheless, there are still some good people here on the earth and we need to have confidence that God will give them the grace to help those who are in need. We must have confidence in our clergy for they must watch as being ready to render an account of our souls. God will give them the grace they need to direct us. We must be docile when they act with a certain severity with a view to remove scandals, to eradicate evil habits, and to put a stop to sins and vices, they have only our welfare in view. Let us repose confidently in them and therefore make use of the means of grace which God through them administers to us; listen diligently to the word of God, which they so often preach to us and receive, as often as possible, the holy Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist.

We must welcome the new year with patience. Have patience and be indulgent with one another in order to preserve peace, "bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against one another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also." _ Col. 3:13. Let us be patient with ourselves and the difficulties of our state in life. Every state in life has its trials and difficulties. Let us bear patiently and peaceably the tribulations incident to our state of life and thereby merit heaven.

Finally, let us greet the new year with good resolutions. Our resolutions should be first and foremost to renounce our sinful lives and to do penance; and to abstain not only from all mortal but as much as possible from every venial sin.

We now know how we should bid adieu to the old year and how to greet the new one. Let us not take leave of the old year without thanking God for all the graces and benefits He has conferred on us during its course and during our whole life; let us be sorry from the bottom of our hearts for the sins by which we have so often and grievously offended Him, and humbly ask His grace and pardon. Let us turn our thoughts then upon the new year and greet it with confidence in God, in good people, and, especially in our clergy; greet it with patience and with the firm determination to receive and bear for the love of God whatever disagreeable and unpleasant things it may bring; greet it with good resolutions, and promise God to avoid every mortal sin and as much as possible also every venial sin, and to serve Him with constancy and fidelity. Blessed are we, if thus disposed we bid adieu to the old year and greet the new one; God will be with us and help us to attain our final aim and destiny. Amen.

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