What I have seen and heard


	Bishop Gregory

Is it more appropriate to look forward or to look retrospectively at the beginning of the new year? I suppose that it all depends on your point of view.

There is a lot of both types of reflection going on at this time of year. Most newspapers and magazines dedicate a section on looking forward and recalling the year that has just passed.

Occasionally we all need to reflect on the past in order to prepare well for the future. However, each one of us can be influenced by our personal perspectives in either looking ahead or at the past. The new year is a good time for those of us who are realists.

I purchased a card several years ago that I have not yet sent since I find its wisdom too treasured to release. The card reads: “The optimist believes that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears that it is true!” At the beginning of the year, we can be either optimistic or pessimistic or realistic. Or we can be like Mary whose solemn feast of her maternity opens the calendar each year. This humble woman was willing to believe that she could accomplish anything through God’s own power. She relied completely upon God rather than herself.

The virtue that most of us desperately need at this time of year is the Christian virtue of hope. Hope transcends the mere human categories of being optimistic or pessimistic. Hope is Christian realism insofar as it allows the human heart to long for all the good things that God has promised without relying on our own strength and ability.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a wonderful description of hope as one of the theological virtues [Articles 1817-1821] that best fits this time of year when we all can grow either despondent about the past when we consider all of the mistakes that we have made in our lives or overly confident about the future when we make all sorts of plans and promises and resolutions that seem all but impossible to keep.

Hope is the attitude of the person of faith who realizes that tomorrow can be better if we truly rely upon God’s promises and strength rather than upon our own inner force — which for most of us has proven so insufficient so often in the past. Perhaps that is why so many new year’s resolutions are so short-lived. Our desire to improve and to do better is a holy desire, but one that needs God’s grace if we are to accomplish all that we would wish. Christian hope is not deflated when we remember all of the many mistakes and sins that have dogged our past. Hope’s strength is not in our power, but in God’s.

As we begin 2004, let our goals be high — even lofty — but let our trust be in God’s ability to fulfill all the good works that we begin through his grace rather than simply by our human good intentions. We might all be either optimistic or even pessimistic by human inclination.
This year, let us all be more hopeful since that virtue belongs to God’s realm rather than merely resting on our skill or might. Happy New Year dear brothers and sisters all!

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