Making the new year happy and better

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE FOR THE NEW YEAR:

The year was 1859.  The place was 19th century Europe. The novelist was Charles Dickens (1812-1870).  The novel was “A Tale of Two Cities.” In what is widely regarded as one of his – if not his best-known quotes – Dickens began his reflections on the historical experience of the French Revolution (1789-1799) with a series of contradictions:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

As we bid farewell to 2022, those words come to my mind.  We can easily fill in Dickens’ literary phrasing with our own memories – both good and bad – of our experiences of the year we leave behind. 

Read the full message HERE.