Today we near the end of our Christmas Season with the Celebration of the Epiphany [the three Kings], who offer their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; after you read Fr. Jim Greenfield’s New Year’s message below consider what gifts God gave you, and what you are going to do with those gifts this year to honor God.

Fr. Jim Greenfield OSFS, President of DeSales University shared this New Year’s message with the faculty, staff, alumni and friends of DeSales University, he encouraged people to reflect on the insights of St. Jane De Chantal, it is worth your time to read and ponder.

May God Be Praised!

A New Year’s Message from St. Jane de Chantal January 3, 2019

Dear Alumni and Friends of DeSales University,

I share with you the words of St. Jane De Chantal which I had shared with the DeSales faculty and staff on New Year’s Day. It was suggested that I include the broader DeSales community. I hope her words inspire you as they do me.

“Time passes, the years come and go, and we come and go with them. Nevertheless, we must make a strong and absolute resolution that, if our Lord wills that we might enjoy this coming year, we will make a better use of this New Year than the many that have preceded it.

“Let us walk with a new and lively spring in our step in the service of God and one another. Let us renew our efforts to grow in our perfection. Let us take great courage to earnestly labor and master ourselves, and to purify ourselves of those things which prevent us from being more of who God calls us to be.

“It is easy to begin a New Year: it is not so easy to see it to completion. It is not so easy to put our hands to the work that God expects of us during every day of this approaching year. To begin the year without planning to tend to our labors is to run the risk of allowing yet another year to slip away without any profit to our soul. Don’t let this happen to you; rather, consider how well you are making use of each and every present moment that God gives you.

“We are growing older and drawing nearer to death every day. Our days, months and years flow on, ultimately coming to an end. How should we respond to this reality? By doing all that is good and by hoping in the Lord! Let us embrace our state and stage of life as fully as we can. Let us employ the time that God gives us with great care. While we ultimately must depend and rely upon God’s mercy, let us at the same time remember to do as much good as we can in the time that God gives us now.

“So, let us begin another New Year in the name of our Lord. Let us resolve to do the best we can with what ever little we possess. While God wants only what we can do, God clearly expects us to do what we can. Therefore, let us be careful to give what – in justice – is due to God and to one another. Let us do what is good, and place our hope and confidence in God’s infinite compassion.”

(Based upon an exhortation by St. Jane de Chantal given on the last Saturday of December 1629.)

May God bless you and your loved ones with health and happiness throughout this New Year of 2019!

Peace,

Fr. Jim Greenfield, OSFS '84

President of De Sales University