Reflection on the Leavetaking of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord

During these last hours of the year, many people settle on their resolutions for the new year. Though we may benefit from Dry January, losing weight, a new morning or evening routine, we should take our primary resolution for the coming year from this late medieval carol: “The old year now away is fled, / The new year it is entered; / Then let us all our sins down tread, / And joyfully all appear.” As we renew our calendars, let us renew our lives in Christ. The end of the year should remind us of the end of all years, and the new year of the age to come. Let us use dedicate each new year to Christ, putting sin behind and striving toward the good things to come, so that, at the end of time, we may joyfully appear in the presence of the Lord of eternity and take our place in the assembly of his elect, abiding with him and glorifying his goodness always, beyond all years and seasons, unto never-ending ages.