December 31--New Year's Eve...
At midnight today, we will turn the page on a new year 2014. 2013 will quickly become a memory for the history books.
With the start of a new year, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation-Maybe this will be the year when I finally lose that excess weight, repair that fragile relationship, take my spiritual life more seriously (we all have something that can be inserted in this blank). Too often, I find that my New Year's Resolutions are more like a wish list than a statement of commitment to changing my life for the better no matter how small. I start off half-hearted with a sense that resolutions are what need to be made yet with really no plan or intention to see them through past January 15th, if they make it that long.
Our monastic tradition offers an alternative to these wishes for change-conversion. Conversion is one of the vows that monastic men and women profess at the time of final profession (commitment). It is an intentional decision to always continue growing closer to who God initially created me to be. It is a public promise to get up after ever fall as I progress in this way of life. It is the desire to continue improving with God's help on my way to holiness with this group of women that are placed in my life.
To me, conversion seems much more doable than resolutions. In conversion, I am fully aware that I am fallible and that there will be some rough spots along the way and I know that God will provide the grace necessary for me to succeed in this if I remain focused on the path. Conversion is not about what I can do by myself but about what God and I can do together when I cooperate with God's plan.
Blessings on your new year. Know of our prayers for all of you.
Sister Catherine
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