Seeking Fuller Life and Spirit in the New Year

My spiritual director, Sr. Micaela Randolph, recently gave me some very helpful reading material: the chapter entitled “A Spirituality of the Paschal Mystery” from Ronald Rolheiser’s book The Holy Longing. In this chapter, Rolheiser speaks of how “in order to come to fuller life and spirit, we must constantly be letting go of present life and spirit.” It is a great art to let go of what is known and safe and move into the new with an open heart. Seeing others practice this art can be a source of encouragement to us.

In my own family, I have been inspired by the example of my Aunt Jane, who, after becoming widowed and at the age of 90 years, graciously left her house of 54 years and her church community to move across the state to an assisted living facility near the town where her daughter lives. She was able to look forward to a fuller life and spirit that included spending more time with several of her grandchildren, relinquishing worrisome house maintenance, and having someone else cook her meals for the first time since her childhood.

No matter how old we are, we are invited to enter into the paschal mystery of transformation that includes suffering and death and the reception of both new life and new spirit. Anticipating the start of a new year is a good time to nudge ourselves to cease clinging to what has been so we can receive a new spirit for the life we are now living. Most recently for me, this took the form of giving the car I used in my pre-Mount life to my nephew, who himself is engaged in the paschal mystery of leaving his current job and community to seek a fuller life elsewhere. As a new year begins, may we all support each other no matter where we are in our stages of transformation.