New beginnings, new start, new year, new life– why not start off with blessings and trust with great confidence in God that the “New Year” will be the best of “Years”!  To accomplish this, we have to have a game-plan, a strategy,  a PLAN OF LIFE.

One of the primary goals of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is through prayer, meditation, contemplation and the construction of a “Plan of Life” to order the disordered in our lives.   The Holy Spirit is a God of order; Satan causes disorder and confusion.   St. Augustine defines peace as ” the tranquility of order.”  We all yearn for peace; why not order our lives by hammering out a PLAN OF LIFE.

Your plan should be practical, concrete, realistic and  approved by your confessor or Spiritual Director!   Our Lady of Guadalupe placed in order the flowers in the tilma of St. Juan Diego. Let us beg Mary to help us to compose our own Plan of Life, live it out faithfully, and experience great order in peace in all the areas of our life.

This plan of life will be directed at specific areas in our life that we can work on to improve. The suggestions are not exhaustive, but should stimulate further reflection and action on your part!

1. SPIRITUAL LIFE=  My relationship in friendship with the Trinitarian Family.
a)  Holy Hour done faithfully in a set time and place and with method! Your “Hour of Power!”
b) DAILY EXAMEN=  Go through the day step by step and be thankful, aware of His graces, repentant for your failures and hopeful trusting in God’s graces!
c)LIVING IN GOD’S PRESENCE= Being more aware of God because in Him we live and move and have our being.

2. FAMILY LIFE: RELATION WITH MY SPOUSE
a) Pray on daily basis for spouse.
b) Make a novena to St Joseph for him/her.
c)Encourage! Say words of encouragement.

3. FAMILY LIFE: CHILDREN
a) Pray more for them.
b) MASS.  Have a Mass offered for children on birthday of each: greatest prayer!
c) SACRAMENTS! Provide for a more abundant sacramental life for them. Their souls first!

4. WORK! OPUS DEI!    Work of God; work for God. Remember the words of St. Paul: “Whether you eat or drink, do all for the honor and glory of God.”
a) Purify intention!  Work for God for His honor and glory
b) Be punctual! Give the Lord a full and honest day’s work!
c.) Competent/efficient/effect.  Perform your work well. Our Lady of Fatima told Lucia that the first penance should be doing our work well!

5. SOCIAL LIFE.  The choice of friends, the use of time, the application of recreation and diversion.
a) Friends that are truly “Friends” should help you to get closer to God and you should draw them closer to God.
b) SEVER/END  If a past friendship is jeopardizing your relationship with God or simply a waste of time, time to end it and move on and choose other friends!
c) FREE TIME/PARTIES/DIVERSIONS.  Examine them!  If they are not promoting the Kingdom and your sanctification, alterations are called for as a New Year begins!  Time is short and we have only one life to live;  no time to waste!

6. PENITENTIAL LIFE.  Jesus said clearly and forcefully, “Unless you do penance, you will perish.”  (Meaning, lose your soul!!!)  Penance, mortification, self-denial, asceticism, can be practiced always. However, every  FRIDAY we must do some form of penance! Fasting, more prayer, 70 minute (Holy Hour), visiting a sick person, way of the cross…. these are just a few among many ways that we can practice penance to imitate all the more our Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus.   Other ways!
a) Get up a little earlier and pray more!
b) ROSARY! If you pray one, then add another!
c)  CONDIMENTS!  Give up putting condiments on your meal!
  The more we say “No” to our own self, the more we say “Yes” to God and the more we grow in grace!

7. APOSTOLIC LIFE!  “Go out to all the world, teaching them all I have taught you..”(Mt 28)
The Call of the King can be heard; so do not be deaf!!!
a) Charity begins at home! Introduce some form of prayer to your family.
b) Bless the meals; say the Rosary; say night prayers! Transform your family into what it should be “The domestic church”.
c). PARISH/CHURCH.   “Do not ask what your parish can do for you; ask what you can do for your parish!!!”  Offer your services to your local church.  Nobody is so poor that he cannot give; nobody is so rich that he cannot receive.  Learn that happiness comes from selfless giving!

8. PERMANENT FORMATION! STUDY!!!!
To grow in our faith, we must know our faith. You cannot love that which you do not  know. The Ignatian dynamic  plays out as such: knowledge generates love; love generates a following, following generates imitation and imitation, transformation.   “No longer I who live but Christ who loves in me.”  We are called to be “replicas of Christ” in the world!
a) STUDY!  The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Get to know the 4 pillars: Doctrine/dogma: the Creed, Morality/ the 10 commandments/ Life of grace/ the 7 Sacraments/ Union with God/ the Life of prayer!  With these 4 pillars you will have a solid spiritual structure and foundation in which to grow in holiness.
b) LIVES OF THE SAINTS.   Get to know the true “Friends of God”– these are the saints, and you are called to become one. Get to know them because you will be with them for all eternity. Blessed Pope John XXIII called the saints, “God’s masterpieces”.
c.) SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. Find some form of periodic spiritual direction. The higher we ascend in the spiritual life, the more subtle are the temptations. Also,  the three St. Ignatius St. John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila agree that it is impossible to direct oneself in the spiritual life. We all have blind spots that we cannot see!

9. SACRAMENTAL LIFE.   Work on improving, purifying and upgrading your personal sacramental life. The most abundant graces flow through the sacramental system. Take advantage of this infinite reservoir of grace offered freely to you!
a)MASS.  Upgrade your Holy Communions!  Come early to make a better preparation; participate more fully; stay after to extend your thanksgiving. One Mass and Holy Communion is worth more than the whole created universe!
b)CONFESSION.  Come more often! Prepare yourself better!  Then after receiving the mercy of God; you, be an incarnation of God’s mercy in the world!
c) FAMILY COMMUNION AND CONFESSION. Take your whole family to Confession, Communion and then the restaurant! First the “Bread of Life” then the bread for the body!  Soul first, body second!

10. MARY IN YOUR LIFE!   Mary is indeed our life, our sweetness and our hope. (The Hail Holy Queen).
a)  PRAYER! Pray to Mary; talk to Mary; confide in Mary. Pray the prayer that she loves most: the Hail Mary and the Holy Rosary!  If possible in family!
b)IMITATE.  Strive to imitate the virtues of Mary. St  Louis de Montfort in True Devotion to Mary give us a list of the ten (10) principal virtues of Mary.  They are the following: deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom. (True Devotion to Mary, St Louis de Montfort, # 108). Ask Mary for the grace to improve on all of these virtues. She will not fail you!
c) MARIA COGITA, MARIA INVOCA!  This is the motto of the Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, which translated into English is “Think of Mary and invoke Mary.”

In conclusion. starting off a New year is time to hammer out a New Plan of Life. This done, there will be more order in your life, more peace in your heart, more purpose and meaning in your existence, work done better, more easily and with greater joy, and finally an abundant harvest for the life to come! This new year will be the best of years, through the intercession of Mary the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church and your Mother!

In 1978-1979 I taught one year in an Elementary school close to Philadelphia. I had 23 students; of those 23 students only one of them was a product of a separation and divorce. I noticed, that this boy had emotional problems, lesser ability to concentrate and performance level was lower than the other 22 children.  Contrast that scenario to the situation in the modern world. Some studies have calculated the divorce rate has soared to a level that is stupefying: close to 60% of marriages ending in divorce!  Now we are talking about 33 years ago!!!!

This being the state of affairs,  what are the principal reasons for so many marriages and families being rent asunder and children growing up with gaping emotional wounds that they unfortunately will carry into their own adult years. Let us take a look!

1. COHABITATION.  It has become a plague, epidemic that has spread throughout the world to a shocking degree, the couples that start to live together.  Interesting names are coined for this dangerous living-arrangement:  ” Shacking up together”, and “Trial marriage”, “Partner living arrangements”.   This decision militates against the whole christian understanding of marriage. Marriage is supposed to be permanent, open to having children, faithful until death do they part.  Living together in cohabitation has no permanent commitment, often is based on lust and selfishness, and children often are avoided through sinful means!

2. GAY AGENDA.  The Homosexual movement fights tenaciously to promote their cause. If they lose one battle, they come back to fight harder.  Their purpose is to radically transform the traditional definition of marriage of existing between man and woman.  With this living arrangement some actually adopt children and presume to raise these little one in a “normal and loving” manner.  As followers of the Bible, the Word of God, and disciples of Jesus Christ, we must do all in our power to hold back this tidal wave of immorality that seeks to undermine the Judeo-Christian value system and the family at large!

3.  PREMATURE COURTSHIPS.    Another phenomena that menaces the future of the family and the society at large, is the allowance of young children– middle school children and early teens– to form a courtship. Disaster!  Across the board, this has proven to be a tremendous calamity!  Teen pregnancies, abortions, children having children, living together at such a tender age. Then little children being brought up and raised without the support of two parents! Parents must encourage their children to wait for the right time, place, and person and not rush into an emotional bond that proves catastrophic!

4.  POOR PRE-MARITAL PREPARATION.  Unfortunately, too often, couples that are preparing for marriage receive a very superficial, inadequate, anemic preparation for the most important decision in their life: choosing their future spouse, family, and children.  An analogy can be given between the priesthood and the  married state. Both are permanent, both are sacraments designed for service; one  towards the family, and the other towards the church. Also, in both cases one is in  this vocation until death.   If a priest must prepare close to 7 years and sometimes even more, should not a couple preparing for the Sacrament of marriage dedicate time, effort, study and much prayer for this sublime vocation that leads to bringing new life into existence!

5.   VERTICALISM OVER HORIZONTALISM!  Most marriages fail for the simple reason that God is not at the center of the marriage.  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote a book on marriage with the title:  IT TAKES THREE TO GET MARRIED.   The three in the equation is John and Mary and JESUS….  Jesus must be the cohesive “Superglue” that holds the marriage and family together.  The best of efforts, keen intelligence, fluid conversation and dialogue, looks and beauty, charm and wit— all of these can only get you so far. It is only a mutual love for JESUS that supports the couple to resist the earthquakes, calm the storms, and ride the tide of tension, frustrations and anger that  can rip marriages asunder!

  Prayer for the Family:  “O God, who were pleased to give us a shining example of the Holy Family, graciously grant that we may imitate them in practicing virtues of family life and in the bonds of charity, and so, in the joy of your house, delight one day in eternal rewards. Through our Lord  Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. “   (Collect for the Mass of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph)

“The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love…The family is an intermediate institution between individuals and society, and nothing can completely take its place…The family is a necessary good for peoples, an indispensable foundation for society and a great and lifelong treasure for couples. It is a unique good for children, who are meant to be fruit of the love, of the total and generous self-giving of their parents….”   (Pope Benedict XVI).

Existing are only three (3) perfect families: the Holy Trinity, the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between both the Father and the Son.  The Trinity is the best family of unity bound by love— the model for all families who should be united in a true and authentic love for the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit.

The next perfect Family is that of the HOLY FAMILY, consisting of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph. May their holiness of life, in imitation of the Trinity, united in love and truth encourage us with our families

Finally, HEAVEN!  Heaven indeed is a family where the SAINTS  live forever, united with their friends the ANGELS.   Present, too, is the Holy Family of, Jesus,  Mary, and St. Joseph, as well as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our families on earth are called to meditate on the Holy Family of Nazareth ans strive to model our family life on theirs. Our families are called to unity and love, like the Trinity. Finally our families are destined to be united with the greatest family: HEAVEN!

Let us exert all of the energy in our wills to promote healthy family life. Let us do our own part to fortify our own families. Let us turn to good ST. JOSEPH, the patron of all families and beg for his most powerful intercession in our struggle for the salvation and sanctification of our family. A beautiful title for St Joseph is ” defender of the family” and “Ornament of the domestic life” as well as “Terror of demons”.

ONE POWERFUL PROPOSAL!    PRAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Pray for your own family!  Pray for the future families of your children.  Pray with your family! Pray the Rosary in your family.   THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER!

  Pope John Paul II stated that the family is the basic building block of society, the Domestic Church!
Final prayer to the Holy Family:
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give your my heart and my soul; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, make my heart like unto yours; Jesus, Mary and Jesus, assist me in my last agony; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I breathe forth my soul unto thee!  O Sacrament most Holy O  Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving, be every moment thine!

THE WEDDING OF CANA: THE LESSONS TO LEARN. (Jn. 2:1-12)

Jesus leaves the “Private Life of Nazareth” that lasted close to 30 years and now embarks on a new stage of His earthly life:  His Public life.   Preaching and teaching in abundance, the expulsion of devils through exorcisms and the working of miracles over human bodies and over nature— these were the activites of the three years of His Public ministry.   Cana, in Galilee, at a wedding Feast is where it all starts. From this humble beginning Jesus and Mary teach us splendid lessons that we are called to meditate upon, pray over and imitate.

GRACE:  Pray for this grace:  “Intimate Knowledge of Jesus— the Son of Mary– that I may love Him more ardently and follow Him more closely.  (St Ignatius of Loyola and the Spiritual Exercises, fruti to pray for in the second week of the Exercises).

Let us dig in to this spiritual “Gold mine” of treasures and enrich our hearts, minds and souls.

1. MARY AND JESUS.  Mary always leads us to a deeper love and folllwoing of Jesus. Vatican II says that “Mary was the foirst disciple of Jesus”. May our following of Jesus be all the more close through the intercession of Mary.

2. MARRIAGE/MATRIMONY.  Jesus and Mary are present at a young couple getting married. They teach us the sacred character of marriage, between man and woman,  bound together in love until death do they part.  We implore Jesus and Mary to bless marriage, family and our children.  “Ther future of the world passes through the family.” (Pope John Paul II) and, “The basic building block (cell ) of the society is the family, (Pope J.P.II)

3. APOSTLES PRESENT.   To be an effective apostle/missionary there is a proper order and sequence:  “First come, then go.”     First, we must come and be with Jesus, spend time with Him, get to know Him and love Him; then we can go out to the world to bring Jesus to others.  In other words avoid “Activism”— first, contempation, then action. Or, first “Mary” then “Martha”.

4. JOY!  The wedding feast is a festive and joyful environment.   We are all called to the “Gospel of joy”. Paul exhorts the Phillipians: Rejoice in the Lord; I say it again: rejoice in the Lord.”  (Phil 4:4). Remember, however, joy is not the same thing as pleasure. Pleasure can be bought with money; true joy comes from God and is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Mary teaches us this truth in her Magnificat: “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour…”  True, authentic joy is found in closeness to God.

5. ENVY.   A true enemy of joy is comparing oneself to others and giving into envy— a sadness in seeing what others have and you do not have. How can we counteract this attitude which destroys charity?  Live out the words of St. Paul:  “Rejoice with those who rejoic and to weep with those who weep.”  Your spiritual victory is mine!  St Therese expresses it clearly: “When somebody does good spiritually, he lifts up the whole world.”

6.  WEDDING CEREMONY.  For Jews the celebration would often last beyond the week. May we pray for our young people who are called to the married state and vocation, that they will make the right decision— which is the most important decision inm their lives. In the choice of a future spouse, the first quality and condition should be the foillowing: “I want to choose some person that will help me to get to heaven as well as the children that God will give us to get to heaven.”  Challenging but true!

7. PROBLEM: NO WINE!  Mary, withe her always attentive and compassionate heart, notices immediately the problem and she wants to help.  My life is full of problems, some small others  bigger, still others enormous!  Why not go to Mary and ask for her help and intercession to resolve these problems.  Problems shared with Mary are resolved or at least made easier!

8. EXAMPLE OF MARY’S HELP!  St. Juan Diego turne to Mary with the fear of the death of his uncle Juan Bernardino and Mary gently but firmly told him not to worry. She said that he was in the folding of her arms(her heart). The problem was solved and his uncle was healed. Like Juan Diego, let us run to Mary and place our problems in her Immaculate Heart; she will never abandon hewr children. Right now, with your problem, stop and place this problem in Mary’s heart! Peace and trust are now yours!

9. MARY’S POWER/MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES!   Mary has power over the Heart of Jesus– she formed this heart for 9 months in her womb. Jesus transforms the water int the best of wine, the most exquiste of wines!   Jesus cannot resist the prayers of Mary His Mother. All the graces come to us from the throne of the Blessed Trinity. However, they all pass through the hands of Mary. She is the bridge that connects us to Godl the aqueduct; she is the neck that connects us to the Head and the Head is Jesus, the head of the church.

10. EUCHARISTIC SYMBOL.  Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana. Later, at the Last Supper, Jesus will turn wine into His Precious Blood , as He institutes the greatest of all Sacraments: the Eucharist, the Sacrament of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! Our Lady in her appearances— Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe— asked for a Church. Why? To bring Jesus to us again, but this time through Mass and the Eucharist!

Conclusion,  Mary is the quickest, easist, shortest pathway to Jesus. (St Louis de Montfort). Turn to Mary, speak to Mary, love Mary and entrust your life to Mary.  ” Maria cogita, Maria invoca.”   (Think of Mary, invoke Mary–motto for the Oblates of the Virgin Mary)

There is a right way to do things as well as a wrong! Driving regulations, sports rules, grammar rules, cooking ingredients and recipes— all of the above must follow certain codes or rules! If not confusion and chaos results!

The same can be said with respect to  conjugal relations between husband and wife.  Marital intimacy and relations  are blessed only when they meet certain requirements; and they are the following!

First, the man and woman must be sacramentally married in the church. Sexuality must be blessed and sanctified by a sacrament, and that sacrament is Holy Matrimony!

Second, human sexuality is modelled on the person of Christ who gave Himself totally as a Gift to the Father as well as humanity as well as for each and every one of  us individually by dying on the cross.  Pope John Paul II  calls it the mutual giving of each other, one to the other as a ‘GIFT!  The person is never to be seen as an object to be exploited and used, but rather as a person created in the image and likenessof God to be love, cherished, and respected at all times!

Third, this mutual self-giving cannot be frustrated by any use of artificial birth-control or what we call “contraception”.  In other words, the marital act between husband and wife must be open to the possibility of  conception, new life, collaborating with the Creator in bringing new life into existence.  Also called “Procreation”.   This term means husband and wife collaborate with God in bringing new life into existence. The husband and wife provide the material means, but God Himself infuses the soul in the moment of conception.  What a marvellous fact!

This means, in concrete, that the Church does not believe in “birth-control,” but rather believes in “Self-control”.  Couples must at times practice periodic abstinence from sexual relations if they believe that for a just cause (Pope Paul VI,  Humane Vitae) it is best to postpone or delay the birth of another child.

Furthermore, the Church does not believe in “Safe-sex”, or “Protection”.  These are euphemisms (lies) for birth-control/contraception.  On the contrary, the Church has taught, teaches, and always will teach in “Sacred Sex”.  Why Sacred?  For the simple reason that God Himself can intervene and bless the couple with a child as a result of that marital act!

Therefore, any use of contraception, according to the teachings of Humane Vitae, the Theology of the Body of Pope John Paul II is an intrinsically disordered act, morally wrong act and objectively a mortal sin! In concrete the pill, IUD, chemical injections, Norplant,  and the condom, as well as an incomplete conjugal act— all of these frustrate one of the primary purposes of human sexuality: procreation, the openness to life; saying  “Yes” to God’s intervention in creating a new person who will have a body and immortal soul that will live for all eternity.

Unfortunately, 50-60% of marriages today end up in divorce. But listen to this! Couples that attend Sunday Mass and receive Holy Communion, go to confession frequently, pray together as a family (especially the Holy Rosary)  as well as practice Natural Family Planning— periodic abstinence for sexual intimacy, have lower than 1% rate of divorce.  The couple love each other more, there is more mutual respect, more frequent and profound dialogue, and happiness in life!  Why not try it! It is a real winner!

May the Holy Family Jesus, Mary and Joseph, help us to strive  to form holy, happy, healthy, families in this life so that one day heaven will be our eternal home!