Easter Resolutions

During Holy Week I do a lot of meditation and  have realized as every Lent comes to a close, I feel that the progress I have made in my spiritual life just resorts back to what is routine for my family in our prayer lives. This year I wanted to make a difference. Similar to the idea of people that utilize New Year's Resolutions to help them down the path to their goals, I wanted to make Easter Resolutions. I want the roots of my faith to stay strong throughout my life and not just during the Lenten Season or when I feel I am going through a tough time. I want these Easter Resolutions to continue to touch my spiritual growth as it does during Lent but not to accomplish these resolutions as a penance but as a gift I have been given. These can be stepping stones to help my growth like the large leaps I attempt to make during Lent.

Easter Resolutions 2016

1. Attend daily mass at least one time a week.

We attend Sunday mass and Holy Days of obligations but I have only ever attended daily mass during Lent. I made a commitment to attend weekly mass during Lent 2-3 times weekly. I do love weekly mass but I never make an effort outside of Lent to attend and I think that I can make the commitment to attend daily mass at least once a week throughout the year.

2. Attend Confession every 2 weeks.

During Lent I make an effort to attend Confession at least once a week but outside of Lent I fall back into my families normal routine of once a month. Confession has always been a hard Sacrament for me because I honestly feel awful admitting the sins I have committed when God has blessed me so much in my life. I am ashamed to say I allow my guilt to hold me back from this Sacrament. I hope that attending every other week I will become more conscience of the sins that I commit repeatedly and I can fully appreciate the immensity of this amazing Sacrament. Eventually I would like this resolution to evolve into a once a week event as well.

3. Pray a decade a day

I am actually happy to say that I have been very dedicated to praying my Rosary daily sometimes multiple times a day throughout this past Lent. I love the beauty of the prayers and mysteries of the Rosary and I have faltered many times in my past efforts to continue my Rosary Devotions after the completion of Lent. I know that if I have found time these past 6 weeks to pray a daily Rosary it should be no problem to at least pray one decade a day. This will be a stepping stone to a daily rosary throughout the year.

4. Abstinence on all Fridays

As you will come to figure out, my entire family loves routine. That is why I feel these Easter Resolutions will help me past Lent because I want to make these steps in my faith routine versus something I just complete as the minimum requirements. Abstinence for our family dinners has never been a problem because I do my best to plan our meals for the week. It is normally our breakfast and/or lunches that we would struggle to remember to eat no meat. I think that incorporating abstinence on all Fridays will be an easy incorporation and it will even help add some more variety to our dinner menu.

5.  Dress in your Sunday Best

This particular Easter Resolution is very important. I have realized that I normally dress nicer for Mass but we should always dress in our Sunday BEST in honor of our wonderful God. I am more guilty of allowing my children throw something on lately (Goalie has worn his play jeans that ar riddled with holes twice this past month because I was in a hurry to get us to Mass on time) and I intend to instill this respectful deed into them. They are aware they have nicer clothing for church and other religious activities but I have fallen away from creating this into a habit. My family is not rich by any means and I hope that this resolution of mine is not offensive to anyone  My intention here is to dress my family in the best of what we have not the best of what others own. 

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These are my five Easter Resolutions. On this Good Friday I intend to continue in my spiritual journey. Easter is a time of renewal and new life. I think these Easter Resolutions grasp that concept

. Keeping your eye on the prize is so important in achieving what you want in your life. I have always been very good at setting goals and a plan to reach them but for some reason I have never done this in my spiritual life. That is changing today! I hope and pray that these Easter Resolutions are an inspiration to those who struggle the way I do to stay consistent. I am inviting everyone to join me and please tell me what you think would be some more Easter Resolutions that would help benefit my goal to grow in faith!