The ashes of 2024 are already growing cold. Yet, in this Jubilee year of Hope, there is still a glow from the past. Good resolutions can be reignited, and fervor restarted, but only if the burnt-out old habits of lazy, self-satisfaction are left behind. It is virtue alone that can carry forward the good resolutions for the new year. Whence comes the strength for a restart, for sustained virtue? Since only God can affect authentic renewal, it is God alone who inflames the embers of Faith, renewing resolve in the thurible of discipleship. St George Preca reminded his friends that the prayer of thanksgiving is constantly accompanied by a humble plea for mercy: “Thank you, Lord Jesus; forgive me, Lord Jesus”. In gratitude and in humility, we turn to God in prayer asking, through the Divine Wounds, that he grant what is needed to restart our lives, our communities of faith. Our good intentions are strengthened by the hidden virtue of courage, which is a virtue of the heart. It is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus that the rhythm of holiness in our prayers, work, and vocation is restarted. In 2025, can we find the courage in our own hearts to receive the Love of Jesus?
Ruth D. Lasserter
Friend of the SDC
Indiana, US