Auld Lang Syne

“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.” -Ecclesiastes 1:9

Well, today is December 31, 2009, and it’s that time of year of again, New Year’s Eve. At this time of year it’s always good to reflect about the entire year and what we did in it.

As for me, it just makes me think that one year ago I was on a retreat with the youth in my diocese, and we were coming back to Pomona in the mid afternoon, then I was going to take a bus back home, which is very far from Pomona, and the busses ended up being full so I became stranded in Pomona. However, back at the church where we arrived there were many activities going on and a midnight liturgy, so glory be to God, I had a place to stay and it was an excellent way to start the New Year. I remember many choir groups went up and presented, and we sung Christian songs, and then the senior priest of the church led us in a heartfelt prayer starting a few minutes before midnight until about midnight, then I saw the date turn on my cell phone from December 31, 2008, to January 1, 2009. I liked seeing the number 2008, it was the year that I graduated from high school, but everything has its time, and we must use time wisely because we can never get it back. So we ended 2008 in prayer and started 2009 in prayer, and it was quite an event at the church, some churches aren’t even as packed on Easter as that church was on New Year’s.

Now comes the time for reviewing what actually went on in 2009. The first six months of 2009 were relatively peaceful, at least to me, and quiet, which is the ideal of the Christian life. Not many things went on there was just a good opportunity to focus on the Lord. But the last six months were horrible and it made me think about many of the problems in the world such as the recession in this country. All the problems we have in the world, especially this country, are because of a lack of virtue, specifically love towards God and towards people. The funniest thing I hear in this world is that people want peace and all the Christian virtues, but without Christ Himself. To want virtue without the One who made it is like wanting a light bulb to light up without electricity; it’s not going to happen. In order to have virtues like peace and love, we must know Jesus, otherwise, don’t expect to get the virtues. The recession in this country came as a result of people not really knowing Jesus and loving God, but by loving money. Greed is what caused this recession, greed on all parts, from many of the buyers and sellers of houses, to the CEO’s of big corporations, and banks lending people on interest only loans which is essentially gambling. These are just a few to name who are behind the problem, there are many, many more. But the fact that greed is one of the seven deadly sins has become fully realized to us in this past year.

What’s going on now reminds me of what Jesus said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:9-12). And this exactly is what’s going on, the world hates us Christians, for no reason, even though it’s because of Christ, and Christians doing what He commanded, that we live the way we live today, in civilization. And the biggest problem in this country is that people fear each other with pathological fear, this is why many “will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” So many people in this country have a weekly cycle of sin, go to work, cuss, gossip, complain, go home do it ten times more than at work because they feared those at work, get off on Friday and drink and do drugs, then on Saturday night party, and so on. Many people in this country don’t naturally love other human beings as they should, there is hatred and malice, the world is becoming a very dark place to live in, even in our own homes, this is what is meant when our Lord Jesus Christ said, “And because lawlessness [sin] will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Essentially, most people in this country don’t love one other, they only think “what will I get out of it,” which is selfishness, before doing any act appearing to be of love. This is why the number of spouses divorcing each other has become so high, the common statistic I have heard is 51%, but I have heard studies that suggest it might have climbed to 66%. Truly the world has become a much darker place and people are still playing in their sins, instead of repenting and turning to God.

But our Lord and Savior tells us right after, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13), and He also tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus Christ is our Hope, and in Him we are complete, without Him we are like a body without a head, we are useless that is, and can’t do anything.

Let us start following Him sincerely starting next year, or I should say tomorrow, and not even tomorrow, let us start following Him today, now, from this moment on. As St. Ignatius said, “It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” If we do what this saying says, many of the troubles that we are in will end, and we will start preserving the creation of God, as is our responsibility, and we will bring many to Christ. Let us not be Christians by name, but by truth, faith, and deed.

Please Lord Jesus Christ, the afflictions of our hearts have been widened, bring us out of all our distresses.

So let us have our Joy and Peace restored to us in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Joy and Peace. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

And glory be to our God and Savior both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.