My New Year’s Restitutions

The dictionary defines the word restitution as:

The act of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, lost, or surrendered.

So this year, instead of making useless “resolutions” which will fade away by February, I am resolved to make up to Jesus what I have stolen from him, namely, the worship and thanksgiving that is due to Him for saving me from hell through His ultimate sacrifice on the cross, the time I have stolen from Him by not meditating on His Passion, the talents I have wasted by not using them for His greater glory, and the treasure I have stolen from Him by wasting money on useless material things, rather than donating them to the poor. I will also try to improve my prayers and random acts of kindness to others, especially toward those who are hard to get along with.

Worship and Thanksgiving

 The main reason, contrary to worldly opinion, that we are down here alive on earth is to give worship and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ for His eternal sacrifice for us. So many people think that the reason we are down here is to make money, make a career, have fun, eat like a king, etc. But all of those things are false.  We should be living our day-to-day lives to live in heaven forever, which means that our souls MUST daily lift our bodies to heaven; otherwise, our bodies will drag our souls to hell, forever.

The Bible gives us our hope for doing this – that is, doing the will of the Father, as Jesus did. We should be trying with all of our sinful hearts to obtain sanctifying grace daily through the sacraments, the main conduit of God’s love for us. The absolute greatest thing any of us can ever do on earth is to attend Mass, which is nothing less than the complete sacrifice of God for man.  We crucified Him with our sins, but in doing so, He turned that horrible murder into our saving grace.  The word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving,” so let’s all resolve to thank him daily, if possible, by going to Holy Mass and partaking of His daily bread as often as possible.

Time

There is a huge shortage of priests in the world today, which means that the laity MUST take up the slack in visiting the sick, bringing them Holy Communion, and just listening to the lonely people out there and praying with them. Most people do this with their elderly and sick relatives, but few do it for total strangers in the many nursing homes out there. By joining a church group such as the Legion of Mary, visiting the sick/dying becomes part of your weekly life. It is a ministry that is symbiotic; that is, it benefits both the patient AND the visitor.  Sadly most people do not like giving up their personal time for this today.  In my experience with the Legion, a lot of people join up for 6 months or so, but then drop out, because of their “schedule,” even though most of them are retired. If possible, make the effort to go and talk to your priest about signing up for visitation with the sick and dying of your parish. My life has been so rewarded for doing this, and it is in total alignment with

Matthew 25:36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me (Matthew 25:36).

Talent

Some of us have musical talent. Some have organizational skills. Some people are good at teaching others.  Why not stop just being a pew sitter on Sundays and give up some of your talent for Jesus?  If you can play an instrument or sing, volunteer for the choir. If you are a leader at your job, volunteer for the parish council, and help to steer your church toward serving God and others through fundraisers and a “greeting newcomers” ministry (this is SORELY lacking in most Catholic Churches, for some strange reason). If you are a teacher, why not volunteer for CCD or the RCIA, and help others to find Jesus? Maybe you can coach a CYO team, and help kids to mature in their faith and teamwork.

Treasure

 A biblical tithe (10%) is only ten cents on the dollar, but few ever give this small amount to the Church.  The big problem in finding money to give to the church, of course, is usury by the credit card companies and other lenders sucking our bank accounts dry. They lend money out at huge interest rates for ever-increasing costs of necessities like transportation and housing. Super high taxes from the government at every level doesn’t help either. Crawling out of debt seems to be the destiny of a lot of people these days, myself included. So give what you can to Jesus, and pray to St. Matthew (a tax collector) and St. Nicholas (who gave money away to save young women from prostitution) to rescue you from the great money monster known as debt payments, so that you can contribute more to the building up of the Kingdom of God, His Church.

Prayer

Another area of needed improvement is prayer. I pray a lot, but sometimes hurriedly. I’m going to try to slow down a little and meditate on the Passion of Jesus more and more. All of the saints have said that meditation on the suffering of Jesus is the key to advancing in the spiritual life. That crucifix in the church is not just there for decoration, I’m finally coming to realize. So during Mass and before I will be concentrating on it and all that He went through to save me from going to hell.

I also intend to restore to Jesus my prayers for my enemies, the down-and-out, the sick and suffering, the dying, the atheists, etc. Praying for people I don’t even know personally will now get a huge chunk of my prayer time.  I keep the Litany for the Poor Souls in Purgatory in my car, and I intend to say that at least once a day, before getting out of my car and coming inside.

Saying the daily prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph will also be part of my daily prayer life.

Random Acts of Kindness

The people who have died on the operating table, and who have come back to life by way of CPR or electroshock, all say the same thing. When they were in heaven for that short time (near-death experiences, or NDEs), they learned that the really big accomplishments of their life like winning the championship, getting a degree, getting the big promotion, etc., all paled in comparison in God’s eyes to helping someone, listening patiently to someone’s problems, or giving someone some cash who needed it. St. Therese was right when she said that her “Little Way” was the way to heaven. She couldn’t do big things, but she could swallow her pride and be nice to those fellow nuns of hers who irritated her the most.  Helping others in the name of Jesus fulfills the command of Jesus to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now or Never

So many of us, myself included,  put these things off, and instead double down on our TV time, our web-surfing time, and our going out-to-eat time. But now that I am older and have seen so many of my generation die who I went to school with, I realize that my time on this planet is growing shorter and shorter, as it is for everyone. I try to imagine what it must be like to die and to meet Jesus a second or two later and have my life reviewed with him. I need to make up for a lot of lost time, spent in ego, sin, and pleasure.  I want to hear from Him to “Come on in, good and faithful servant.”  That means that the time is now to get my act together for eternity.

Here’s hoping we all do.

Have a blessed 2024.

Peace to you all!