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How Do We Transition from Nativity to New Year?
Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash
Christmas Day has passed. New Year’s is headed our way. How do we transition from the joy and peace that we experienced on Christmas to this coming New Year?
We can move from Jesus at the center of the nativity to Jesus at the center of our everyday life in the New Year.
My grandfather recently gifted me with my deceased grandmother’s prayer book which is filled with timeless Catholic spiritual wisdom. Inside of the book, on the late evening of Christmas Day, I uncovered this reminder of Jesus being at the center of our everyday life:
The meaning of life is to have…
One great desire… to love Jesus
One great joy… to possess Jesus
One great fear… to lose Jesus
One great model… the child Jesus
One great business… to work for Jesus
One great delight… to speak to Jesus
One great wish… to be like Jesus
One great care… to do the will of Jesus
One great sorrow… the sufferings of Jesus
One great hope… to live forever with Jesus
One great refuge… the heart of Jesus
One great glory… to be crowned by Jesus
Jesus is not just at the center of Christmas Day. He is at the center of everything that gives meaning to life.
What if you made one resolution this New Year? What if your one resolution was to make Jesus the One you hold most dear – to pray for this grace and live these words fully and wholeheartedly?
I suspect from there, with Jesus at the center, that everything else you dream of for the New Year will fall into place.
About the Author
Katie Zalany lives in Cleveland Ohio. She is a Third Order Secular Franciscan (OFS), spiritual director, benefits/wellness leader, and certified health and life coach. She volunteers with St. Vincent de Paul Society serving the poor, is an active mentor to many individuals, and a prolific writer. Her writing interests and focus areas include spiritual development, reflections on the Gospel life, Franciscian spirituality, prayer, and integration of faith and work/daily living. She is the published author of Called to Corporate: Lessons of Growing in Faith and Holiness from the Corporate Cubicle.
