Hello there Rosary lovers! In this post, I will offer you a Catholic New Year Resolution. Or rather, a series of Catholic New Year Resolutions.
And before you notice, or say anything, yes yes, I realise it’s 12th June, and nowhere near New Year. I was supposed to write this at the beginning of the year, but I never got round to it.
But who cares? Perhaps you searched and found this post on 1st January of some future year. If that’s the case – WONDERFUL! I’m thrilled, and I hope it blesses you NOW!
In any case, these resolutions can be started ANYTIME during the year. So long as you start them! They have the power to save your soul and mine.
So here goes.
The Catholic Resolutions
Resolved! I resolve to try to attend Mass as often as possible throughout the week.
This is THE Resolution of all resolutions. This is the ONE Resolution that cannot and must not be ignored, because this is THE Resolution that can best make you and I saints. It is also the foundation and life-spring of ALL other elements of Catholic life.
For more information, have a read of ‘The Wonders of the Mass‘, a very short, but life-changing book. You’ll never doubt the power of the Mass again in making you a saint.
Let’s continue …
Resolved! I resolve to pray for a daily devotion that God might give me, that I might remain in communion with God daily. (The Rosary is a great choice.)
Resolved! I resolve to pray the Lord’s prayer everyday.
Resolved! I resolve to keep the precepts of the Church this year and every year of my life.
Resolved! I resolve to show some kind of love or devotion to the holy and immaculate Mother of God daily.
Resolved! I resolve to go to my priest whenever my faith is struggling or whenever I experience a significant setback in life. I will not struggle through life alone without the support and direction of my spiritual father.
For those who struggle with scruples, doubts and over-thinking about religion
Resolved! I resolve to not worry about things I am not certain about. I will only bring to confession sins that are clear and certain. I will only concern myself with obligations that I KNOW God requires of me, not things I am not sure about.
In short: no certainty, no sin; no certainty, no obligation.
Resolved! I resolve to focus only on those matters that are certain, not on those things that are doubtful. I will learn to ignore my doubts.
For more information, see the Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous.
I hope you’ve found this helpful!
Can you offer any other resolutions that might be helpful to people reading this?
God bless you.
Hello Matthew,
I just discovered your website last week. I really enjoy and appreciate reading your articles.
I came back to the Catholic Church last year and feel like there is still a lot to learn and relearn lol. Your articles have definitely been a great learning tool for me.
What I like about this article is “the Ten Commandments of scrupulous”. One of my crosses is I struggle with anxiety and overthinking and especially when it comes to confession and the rosary prayer.
I do have a question though, I have been trying to do the 54 day novena and 4 rosaries a day but have not be successful. I continue to be drawn to both and was wondering if I came combine both devotions. Pray 3/4 rosaries for the 54 day novena instead of one?
Hello there! Good to hear from you and I’m very happy to hear that you’ve learned from the site 🙂 that’s very encouraging for me.
It’s also terrific that you’ve come back to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. Do feel free to reach out anytime you please with any questions and I’ll see what I can do. Also, you can ask your priest anything anytime.
Yes aren’t those Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous a live saver? They’ve helped me so much.
There are two ‘commandments’ in particular that have helped me immensely and they are:
1. ONLY confess sins that are clear and certain. So if I am not certain that I have sinned, then I don’t need to confess anything.
2. If I am not certain of any obligation required of me from God, then I can just carry on as normal. I don’t need to be concerned that I am sinning, or have sinned, or might be sinning.
Regarding overthinking and the rosary, I have been there. I find it helpful to rely on Mary here really. You can just ask her now, ‘Mary, please show me if ever I pray a part of your rosary inadequately.’
As far as I am aware, you can only pray a rosary (or part of a rosary) inadequately if you become wilfully distracted. So, for instance, you are praying the rosary, but then you take out your mobile phone and start flicking through Facebook, or put the TV on or whatever. It seems to me to be quite an extreme thing to be praying one moment, then during your prayers to just carelessly distract yourself very willingly as if to say, ‘You know what, God, I don’t really care about these prayers. I’ll pray them, but I don’t care.’ If you aren’t doing this, I don’t see how your prayers can ever really be displeasing to God or Mary. Just giving the rosary a go in good faith is enough to please Mary. So you don’t have to be concerned that you aren’t ‘praying it properly’. Just try to do what you can. These days I just stick a podcast on and listen to the rosary, often when I’m doing the dishes or cleaning the house. I tend to pause at the beginning of each mystery, and think about the mystery when the Our Father is being prayed, then I carry on cleaning or whatever whilst the Hail Marys are resounding in my ears. I have found this a really blessed method.
And if I ever get concerned that I may be ‘sinning’ in praying the rosary, because I’m being too distracted or whatever, I can just ask myself, ‘Well, hang on a moment: am I CERTAIN that I have sinned? Am I CERTAIN that my rosary prayers are inadequate?’ And the answer is always either no or I’m not sure. In which case, it doesn’t matter, I can assume all is well.
I hope all that makes sense. Perhaps you might find it helpful.
As for Confession, I also have struggled a lot with this. I have spoken to my priest a lot about it and have found him very helpful and understanding/patient with me. So I would talk to your priest about this.
But perhaps you may find it helpful to follow those Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous. And don’t overdo the Examination of Conscience before the Confession. A few minutes is enough.
Additionally, I found a Catholic priest saying somewhere that it isn’t possible for us to invalidate our Confession by accident. As far as I know, to invalidate a Confession, I need to willingly conceal a very serious sin that I KNOW FOR SURE that I NEED to Confess. I don’t think it is possible to do this by accident. So it’s an obvious thing, and if someone doesn’t do this then they are forgiven EVERYTHING whenever they come to Confession, even serious sins they forget to mention.
So I’ve come a long way in my understanding of this wonderful sacrament. Far from it being a series of hoops one has to jump through to get forgiven, you simply have to come with a sincere heart before God and just be honest with him. And he knows our weaknesses, and any insufficiencies in our confessions are covered by his love and mercy and he forgives everything anyway, no matter where we ‘fail’ in Confessing our sins.
As for your question about the 54 day novena and the 4 rosaries a day. I did this very thing recently, but I did it with 3 rosaries a day. 54 divided by 3 = 18. And 18 divided by 2 = 9.
So: you simply pray 3 rosaries for 18 days (which is 54 rosaries). The first 9 days, you spend asking God for whatever it is you are praying for. The second 9 days, you spend thanking him for giving it, even if you haven’t received it.
If you are doing 3 rosaries a day here, I would pray the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries, because this is daily ONE ENTIRE traditional rosary.
I cannot imagine that this doesn’t ‘count’ as a true, genuine 54 day novena, but who am I to say? I think Mary would be so happy with this if someone did it.
I do hope all that helps.
God bless you, and get in touch whenever if I can help you.
For you and your life of faith: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus!
Hello Matthew,
I just discovered your website last week and have been enjoying reading your articles. I came back to the Catholic Church last year. The rosary is my favorite devotion. Did you ever pray the 54 day novena? Both the rosary and the 54 day novena are the two devotions that I have been drawn to. I was wondering if I can combine both devotions, meaning instead of one rosary, I would do 3 rosaries a day for the novena?
I appreciate the Ten Commandments of scrupulous . One of my crosses is I struggle with anxiety. However This article was a relief for me. Thank you!
God bless!
Hello there! Good to hear from you 🙂
Yes I think that’s a great way to pray the 54 day novena! In fact, I’ve only once prayed the 54 day novena and I did EXACTLY that, I did 3 rosaries a day for 18 days.
Go for it 🙂
Hi Matthew!
Please disregard the second reply that I made on this page. I thought the first one did not go through lol. I apologize!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question!
It was so very helpful! I look forward to any future articles:)
God bless to you and your family!
Hi there! 🙂 it’s totally cool thank you for all of your interaction I’ve enjoyed it
Great you found my reply helpful! All the very best to you and your future. Keep in touch, you can contact me privately by email in the About Matthew page, should be a link to it at the top of the site.
God bless you greatly