Dear 2023, it’s almost time to say “goodbye”. Soon you’ll be nothing but a memory getting further and further away.
We’ve had quite some experiences these past (almost) 365 days.
Some we’ll have to be reminded of. Some of them we can’t forget.
A look back
January 5 was the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI. It’s been almost a year since his death on December 31, 2022.
AI (artificial intelligence) became a bigger thing in 2023. ChatGPT and other things related to AI entered our vocabulary.
The war between Ukraine and Russia continued and Hamas and Israel are fighting.
We always look back on celebrity deaths at the end of the year. 2023 took Matthew Perry, Tina Turner, Suzanne Somers, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Barker, Tony Bennett, and others (I only have so much room to work with).
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl in February. One month later, Taylor Swift started her “The Eras Tour”. How could we have known those two major powers in their respective fields would intertwine much to the combined delight and impatient annoyance of everyone?
In the Diocese of Madison, we’ve plunged ourselves Into the Deep. Oh, have we.
We had to accept a lot of changes in Mass times, Mass locations, priests, and more, but God’s mercy, the Eucharist, and the other sacraments have remained as good as ever.
We also saw a lot of anger this year. We saw a lot of division. We saw a year that was quite exhausting in its way of making us wish we could just leave all of the drama and turmoil behind, move to the country, and grow beets. Wouldn’t that be a peaceful existence rather than wondering if we can all just get along?
We shouldn’t forget all of the good things of this year though.
By just looking back at this past year’s issues of the Catholic Herald, I can see a lot of them.
We welcomed a lot of new people into the Church on Easter Vigil.
Many of us grew in our Great Commission by attending Go Make Disciples Live! events and the Commissioning Mass.
We saw the ordinations of new deacons and priests.
Many young people from our diocese attended World Youth Day in Lisbon and grew together with the Universal Church.
On the smallest of levels, we welcomed some new staff people and a new design at the Catholic Herald. We’ve had a few things here to stress about this year, but we’ve had a lot to be thankful for too.
There were a lot of things in 2023 that we could have gone without, but there are also many things that we could never imagine being without.
On to 2024
Soon, your young sibling 2024 will be upon us.
What can we expect to look forward to?
We’ll have the next presidential election.
Eh . . .
We’ll have the summer Olympics. There will be flag football in those. That will be kind of cool.
There might be some new parish names in the diocese. I’m sure there will be some mixed reactions, but we’re all going to do the best we can.
We’ll see more Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, and some new priests and deacons. The Church is alive.
We’ll see some deaths too. Some of those will be very sad. They will teach us to pray for our loved ones. They might even teach us to pray for our “enemies” too.
We’ll see more current events that will divide us.
We’ll see more Church issues that will divide us.
Is there anything that won’t divide us?
Ah, Original Sin — the gift that keeps on giving.
How about the surprises God will have in store for us as 2024 goes on? There will be some bad things that we didn’t see coming, but there will also be some great things that only He, in his divine wisdom, knew He had for us all along.
The best thing we can take from 2023 and apply to 2024 is to persevere and don’t ever despair or give up.
God is with us no matter what happens. Let’s always keep hope alive.
So, goodbye, 2023, and we thank you for everything — the good and the maybe not-so-good.
And to you all,
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.
Happy New Year.