In the initial days of the new year, many people make many resolutions of every kind. Whether they keep them or not is another story. The most important thing for them is that they have a grounding on which they can build or rather orient their lives for that year. Maybe for a group of us the here and now is all that exists. Even if they have seen their loved ones passing away and attended their funerals they were a bit sceptical as to what really exists other than this life. This year offers for us an alternative way of looking at life. Why can’t we make our life more interesting and tasting better by adding the spiritual in it?

Recently, I was particularly struck by a powerful quote of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. “It seems to us that the most important work in the world is the work which is visible, which we can see: building a house, ploughing the land, feeding cattle, gathering fruits; and that the work which is invisible, the work done by our soul, is not important. But our invisible work at the improvement of our soul is the most important work in the world, and all other visible kinds of work are useful only when we do this major work”.

The soul is the hub of the human life because it encapsulates in it the heart of man. It is from the soul that attitudes are generated, and in return direct temporal reality. Jesus was quite blunt on this point. “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.” (Mark 7, 21-23). The same can be said that it is from the heart of man that “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5, 22-23) emerge.

Our heart is the battlefield between God and Satan. A heart immersed in God dwells in eternal glory already from this world whereas a heart dominated by Satan is living in hell. To whom are we going to give our heart this year? The resolution is in our hands ...

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

San Gwann