Typically, I like to establish specific goals to be met in the New Year (i.e., running goals) rather than create resolutions. However, per usual, Pope Francis has established ten resolutions that are really good. Below is a summary of each one; click here for the full text.

1. Don’t gossip.
Every time we judge our brother in our hearts or worse when we speak badly of them with others, we are murdering Christians. There is no such thing as innocent slander.

2. Finish your meals.
Throwing food away is like stealing from the tables of the poor, the hungry. I encourage everyone to reflect on the problem of thrown away and wasted food to identify ways and means that, by seriously addressing this issue, are a vehicle of solidarity and sharing with the needy.

3. Make time for others. 

4. Choose the ‘more humble’ purchase. 
Certainly, possessions, money and power can give a momentary thrill, the illusion of being happy, but they end up possessing us and making us always want to have more, never satisfied. 

5. Meet the poor ‘in the flesh.’
It’s not enough to give a sandwich if it isn’t accompanied by the possibility of learning to stand on one’s own feet. Charity that does not change the situation of the poor isn’t enough.

6. Stop judging others. 
If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.

7. Befriend those who disagree.
When leaders in various fields ask me for advice, my response is always the same: dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. It is the only way for individuals, families, and societies to grow, the only way for the life of peoples to progress, along with the culture of encounter, a culture in which all have something good to give and all can receive something good in return.

8. Make commitments, such as marriage.
“I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage ‘to swim against the tide.’ Have the courage to be happy.”

9. Make it a habit to ‘ask the Lord.’
“Some of you may not yet know what you will do with your lives. Ask the Lord, and he will show you the way.” 

10. Be happy. 
“Joy cannot be held at heel: it must be let go. Joy is a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks, walks on the path of life, that walks with Jesus: preaching, proclaiming Jesus, proclaiming joy, lengthens and widens that path.”

Whoa. Every one of those struck a different chord. I’m guilty of all kinds of stuff under each of these. Could be time for a resolution or two this year.