New Year, Sorta New Goal

2024 was so full.

It was a year of incredible milestones. Our younger son finished eighth grade and started high school. His older brother helped his marching band bring home a national championship. They both got their braces off, and one got contact lenses.

Somewhere in there, I finished a master’s degree, and my husband made incredible strides on a project that has been a lifelong dream. We had a glorious beach vacation. My car got smashed in an accident, fixed, and then broke down with our whole family inside—and it took almost a month to figure out what was wrong.

2024 was not an easy year as we said goodbye to loved ones, including my father-in-law, who passed in March, and my husband’s brother-in-law Ned, who died just a few weeks before Christmas. I’m grateful that we had the gift of getting to say goodbye.

Now 2025 begins. I’m always a little sad to close the book on the past year, but I love the idea of a new beginning. What will this new year bring? What will we bring to this new year?

Word of the Year

As each year begins, I randomly choose a word of the year. My word this year is “Kindness.” It seems a little ordinary, but I love the simplicity of it. Perhaps it’s a call not just to be kind to others, but also to recognize and appreciate kindness and to accept kindness from others.

If you’d like a word of the year, you can click on this word generator.

Saint of the Year

I also like to choose a saint of the year, also at random. This year my saint is a new one to me—St. Francis of Paola. He was named for St. Francis of Assisi, and he founded his own order, the Order of Minims. He spent a great deal of time in fasting, lived basically as a vegan, and embraced solitude. I am fascinated by the miracles attributed to him during his life and his connection with animals.

I always love to find quotes from saints to understand them a little better. St. Francis of Paola said, “Be peace-loving. Peace is a precious treasure to be sought with great zeal. You are well aware that our sins arouse God’s anger. You must change your life, therefore, so that God in his mercy will pardon you. What we conceal from men is known to God.”

I’m curious how St. Francis of Paola might be a friend to me this year.

If you’d like a saint for the year, you can click on this saint’s name generator.

Goal for the year

Last year, I set a goal of attending Mass 100 times. It was such a wonderful goal—and really a gift to me. Attending daily Mass gives me this sliver of time in my day when I can just be with God, hand over everything I’m carrying, ask him to watch over everyone I love, and place before him the special intentions and requests people have entrusted to me.

In 2024, I made it to Mass 133 times. I had never counted before, so I had no idea whether 100 would be an achievable number, but I loved the sound of 100. You figure if you go to Mass on Sundays and for holy days of obligation, you’re already approaching 60. So, 100 felt doable—and it was.

This year, I am going to try to go 150 times. I don’t know whether I will pull that off, but I like a goal that is achievable and aspirational. And, although I could try doing something else, going to Mass is a treat some days and a lifeline on others. Just for fun, I might keep track of where I go for each one—but that might be more than I can manage.

Whatever hopes you have for this year, I hope the New Year is full of many blessings for you and that each day will bring a chance to see and appreciate how much God loves you.

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