What hopes or longings do you have for the coming year?

“Like the exposed roots of a tree, reality unveiled can be many things at the same time: sharp, smooth, ugly, beautiful, painful, and healing.” I do not know the author of that quote but I hope that in my country and throughout the world our species can move from longing to belonging–that we can come to realize how much we need each other and how much Mother Earth needs us to cherish her and each other.

On this inauguration day in America, I am drawn to these words from Fr. Richard Rohr: “I invite you to continue practicing some form of contemplative prayer this year. Our problems begin when we fight reality, push it away, or insist that the way I “see” reality, from my own limited perspective, is the only valid reality. Any contemplative practice that serves to welcome life as it is will change us. We will dive into this “unveiled”—and even unpleasant—reality positively and preemptively, saying, “Come God, and teach me your good lessons.” We need such a practice to lessen our resistance to change and our tight grasp around things. Let us seek to pray this way for as long as it takes us to arrive at a full “Yes” to Reality. Only then can its lessons come through to us.” Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, Jan 8, 2021