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Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I like to set goals because it gives me some focus and direction but God has shown me that sometimes when I do this I get very rule-oriented and place my focus on doing things “the right way” rather than putting Him first.
He reminds me of the story in the Gospel of Luke about Jesus healing the man on the Sabbath. If He had “followed the rules”, He might have left that man suffering. Yet, He points out to the Pharisees that love comes above all and that living legalistically can interfere with our ability to love.
So, while I am setting some spiritual goals for the new year, I am doing it carefully and prayerfully.
Why Set Spiritual Goals
I used to tell people that there was a wall between God and me, despite my great love for Him. Obviously, it was a wall I had put up but I wasn’t sure why.
Through spiritual direction, I have come to realize my perfectionist, rule-following tendencies have interfered with my faith journey. Often, I have become too focused on the perfect prayer schedule, the right way to practice Catholicism, the best way to be a Christian. These have taken priority over simply living my life with the Lord.
There is nothing magical about New Year’s resolutions. You can make them anytime of the year! In fact, I find it to be so important to revisit my goals periodically throughout the year.
Things can happen in my life and in my faith journey that can affect those goals and change the priorities. Sometimes simply setting that goal was a lesson in itself, showing me what truly was important.
Here are My Spiritual Goals for the New Year
Keeping all of this in mind, my spiritual goals are small steps. They are something I am working on and striving for, but they are flexible and through prayer and spiritual direction, adjustments will be made as needed. My relationship with God is always top priority and these goals are meant to enhance it, not interfere with it.
Choose a patron saint for the year.
I want to learn more about the saints and I feel like choosing one to focus on for the year is a good way to do that. This may not last throughout the whole year and if I feel moved by the Holy Spirit to move on and choose another one, I will.
I decided to go with St. Therese of Lisieux. She has been placed in my path so many times throughout the previous year and I feel like God is guiding me towards her for a reason. So, I want to learn more about her and see what lessons I can bring into my own life.
I also did one of those fun saint generators. I usually get St. Therese every time I do them but I saw a different one on Instagram where it’s a bunch of flashing images of saints and you touch the screen to make it stop. It stopped on St. Margaret of Castello. As soon as I learned that she was the patron saint of people with disabilities, I knew that I needed to add her to my plans as well.
Choose a word for the year.
I’ve done this for quite a long time now with varying results. Here are some of the words I’ve chosen in the past.
This year I chose the word “nourish”. It came to me through some of the activities I have embraced more in the past 5-6 months – baking for my family, making meals and other goodies for my friends, spending more time in God’s word, and so on. I want to spend more time nourishing others and letting God and His Word nourishing me.
Spend more time in prayer.
Now this is where I can go wrong. I can get so focused on setting up a prayer routine and making sure I maintain it to the letter that I lose the purpose of it.
I have learned and am getting better at flexibility, but I find that if I don’t make a conscious and intentional effort, it can be easy for me to go through the whole day without spending much, if any, time in prayer at all.
Morning prayer.
In the mornings, I have been praying the Morning Offering. I like the one from Hallow which includes the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love. It only takes 3 minutes so it’s easy to fit into my schedule even when I have a busy day.
Sometimes I add in Psalm 143:8 – Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. It’s easy to memorize and on mornings when my health/pain are bad, I can say it while I’m lying in bed.
I also like to add the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be when my morning isn’t too crazy. And I often finish off with “Go with me this day that I may add to Thy glory.” If I am able to, I sit in silence for 5-10 minutes after.
The important thing here is that if one/both of my grandsons are having a rough morning and it’s just impossible to take quiet time to pray as described above, I can pray the psalm, Our Father, Hail Mary, and/or Glory Be easily on the go. As I pour them a glass of milk, help them get dressed for school, or yes, even when I am going to the bathroom, I can still send up a prayer.
The other thing that I’ve learned is that if I’m not feeling well, running late, or putting out a bunch of dumpster fires, it’s okay to wait until the boys leave for school and then sit down for my quiet time.
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Afternoon prayers.
I like to pray the Angelus at noon. It’s a good way to regroup between the morning and afternoon, taking a quiet moment to step back into my day with the focus on God. This is something I hope to do more of in the new year.
I also find it very helpful both for me and my faith and for the calm it helps me bring into my encounters with my grandsons when they get home from school to take some quiet time with God. Lately, lectio divina combined with art/prayer doodling has really been resonating with me.
Evening prayer
This is a tough time for me. I am usually quite exhausted. But I worked through this in spiritual direction and we came up with this simple plan that I would like to try:
- Name 3 blessings of your day and thank God for them.
- Ask for forgiveness for the times in my day where I didn’t act in the love of Jesus.
- Set an intention for the next day. “Jesus, please help me ________________”
This is something I can easily do while lying in bed. One important lesson of 2025 – it’s okay to fall asleep praying. I used to feel guilty for this but we talked about the beauty of it in my women’s Bible study just before Advent.
Often as I’m starting to fall asleep, I now prayer the Hail Mary over and over again. I now believe that it brings God joy when we end our days in the midst of prayer.
Praying the Rosary
It’s difficult for me to find a long enough period of dedicated time that I can use to pray the rosary each day. I’ve learned that it’s okay to pray part of it whenever you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
I made my daughter a wall rosary for Christmas and I’d like to make something similar to put in the kitchen so while I am doing meal prep or baking, I can use that time to pray the Rosary – or as much as possible – too.
I’d like to pray the full rosary weekly. I’m considering creating a women’s rosary group at my parish and meeting with them weekly.
Pray the Pope’s Monthly Intentions
By praying the pope’s monthly intentions, I will add my voice to that of Catholics around the world and pray for important issues as identified through his discernment. I can add these as an intention when praying the rosary, during my morning offering prayer, or through many other prayer opportunities.
Along with this, I have a prayer card for with the names and pictures of the current seminarians in my local area and would like to make more of an effort to pray for them regularly.
To make this easier, I’m going to print out and hang up the Pope’s monthly intentions (and add it to my prayer binder) and hang up the prayer card with it. This will make it really easy to add these prayers in during my day as they will be easily visible and readily accessible.
Sharing my faith.
Our women’s Bible study this fall was Passionate Discipleship from Walking with Purpose. I’d really like to find more ways to share my faith with others this year. I’m not sure exactly what that would look like, but some of the people in our group suggested being a sponsor for an OCIA candidate.
More ideas:
- I make my own prayer cards. So, I would like to make some and leave them around my neighborhood/city for people to find in hopes that it would inspire them.
- We have something similar to a Little Free Library but it’s a Little Free Art Gallery. I was thinking about placing some sacred art in it to hopefully uplift and inspire others.
- An organization that works with unhoused people in our city is often asked for rosaries so I’d like to make some, attach a message of support and donate them.
- Reach out and do something kind for at least 1 family member, 1 friend, and 1 stranger each month. This could include sending notes of support, making meals and goodies for them, calling them and inviting them to Mass and coffee afterwards with me, making small craft projects to give them.
- Volunteer to work with unhoused people and/or shut-ins. I could bring the Eucharist to shut-ins from our parish, attend Mass with them at nursing homes, and pray with them. Even if I’m not explicitly speaking about my faith, I would be bringing Jesus to them and that’s what matters.
Other
- Read the Bible daily. This could look like doing the Bible in a Year, using the Universalis app to read the daily Mass readings, or picking a verse and doing Lectio Divina with it as described above. I don’t have to read an entire book or chapter. But I want to engage with the Word in some way each day.
- Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a month.
- Attend Eucharistic Adoration at least once a month.
- Take part in as many Bible studies as possible offered through our parish. This year we’re studying Ephesians, Daniel, and Hebrews.
- Renew my consecration to Mary.
- Go on a pilgrimage. I essentially became a Catholic while on a pilgrimage (that I didn’t even know I was on at the time!) so I know how powerful this can be. Ideally, I’d love to go to the Martyr’s Shrine in Midland Ontario, but The Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King in Hamilton is another possibility. If I can’t travel, I can always spend some time in prayer at St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica right here in London. While not a true pilgrimage, another option would be to attend Shrine Days and participate in the rosary trail at Our Lady of the Rosary Shrine in Merlin.
Whew. This sounds like a lot when I put them in a list like this but I really think it’s a pretty easy set of goals/hopes to achieve that will easily fit into my busy life. Are you setting any spiritual goals for the new year? Share them with us in the comments below!
