New Year’s Day is always a milestone. Aristotle defined time as a measure of motion according to a before and an after. Different people have measured time according to different standards.

For example, the Jewish people used several calendars over the years. New Year was once during the Passover time. Later it was changed from spring to fall. At one time the Jewish people followed a lunar month of 29 and a half days based on the phases of the moon.

Ultimately the Jews mixed a Babylonian system with their own astronomical calculations to develop the present day calendar that Israel uses today.

We ourselves used a Julian calendar and then changed it to a Gregorian calendar so that our time corresponded more exactly to our journey around the sun. But we still need to put in a leap year every four years to keep the years exactly correct.

It seems that every race and religion has a calendar. Every group also has a different New Year’s Day. Every religion calculates the New Year from a different date. But one thing is certain; all of us keep two dates.

One is that day when we entered onto this mortal coil, this human stream of history—that is our birthday.

The second is that each year we join the human community in recording the course of history by the marking of years.

So we celebrate birthdays and for us older folks we usually say the same thing. “By gosh, the years go by quicker every year.”

And we don’t really celebrate New Year’s Day. It is more like a person standing at the back of a train, on the platform, looking backward as the scenery and events of history stretch out behind us. Each year marks a stage where we have seen more and our view is longer as people and happenings are left behind.

We are watching personal and world events fade into the past.

But there is one aspect of our lives as Christians that never permits us simply to be observers on the world stage. We are people in waiting for the future. Catholics must be optimists because we know that God is in command and that for the Christian community all things work together onto good.

No matter what happens—be it personal tragedies, or sickness, or persecution we know that God loves us. Every personal cross leads to a resurrection. Every sunrise means a new day that God has given us.

This old Church has been through a thousand forms of crisis. Our own lives have been a mixture of pain and joy. But always deep within us, we sense a presence. It is the Christ who loves us.

So, on every birthday and on every New Year, we may glance back at that passing panorama of our lives. But we quickly look ahead. God is our companion on this our journey.

So, pilgrim, look up. There is always a new day—a new adventure. Finally, one day we will reach the end of the journey. Then what a beautiful place awaits us.

It is that blessed paradise—that place where time is no more. We will have no more desire. We will be at perfect peace in the presence of “He who is.” And all that we could ever hope for will be there. A perfect fulfillment will be ours.

So, let’s move on with joy and confidence. Our destination is glorious.

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