As 2025 draws to a close I, like many others, begin to contemplate the New Year. We ponder what the New Year may bring and consider amending our lives to more fully conform to Christ.
The New Year provides a solid breaking point with the old. It seems like the perfect time to start over or start again. Some have earthly goals like improving fitness, learning something new, or finding ways to make more money. Others have spiritual goals like praying more, reading more spiritual books, or resolving to avail themselves of the sacraments more often.
In past years, and again this year, I do something a little different. I allow a saint to chose me and a word to be my compass for the year. I’ll share more about this shortly. It may seem strange to say that I am allowing a saint to pick me rather than picking a saint or to allow a word chosen randomly to be my watchword for the year. However, I have found this to be a wonderful practice to learn more about lesser known saints and to have a word that acts as a compass for the entire year.
In 2025 the saint that picked me was St. Catherine de Ricci. This 16th century nun was known for her devotion to prayer and being an “influencer” and friend to 3 popes. While I’m not a friend of any current or past pope, having an American pope does make me feel special. Her intercession throughout the year has certainly increased my prayer life.
My word for 2025 was – unlearn. Merriam Webster gives these definitions: to put out of one’s knowledge or memory; to undo the effect of, discard the habit of.
I found this to be a strange word for me at first. As someone who is constantly trying to learn from everything, I found this word repulsive when it was picked for me. However, throughout the year I have found that there are many things I needed to unlearn.
Many of my patterns of thought (and behavior) were in need of desperate change. The most apparent thing I needed to unlearn (and still need to work on) was selfishness. I realized that many of my troubles come from pride and selfishness. This isn’t the sort of selfishness that wants to keep everything for myself like a spoiled child. Rather, it is the kind of selfishness that sees the world as revolving around me. It says to me, “the reason this person is doing or not doing this is because they don’t love you“, “the reason you feel this way is because you’re better than others“, etc. Only when I began to unlearn these selfish thoughts did light begin to enter my soul. I realized the world (work, family, friends, etc.) do not revolve around me and that I should not be focused on myself. Instead I should be living the words of Christ, “I have come to be served but to serve.” When I embraced this message, only then did I begin to see the world anew. This realization has increased my happiness and brought a peace that I didn’t know was possible!
My saint for 2026 is St. Paschal Baylon. Although I am just now learning about this saint I am excited because he is a Eucharistic patron saint. I’m excited by this fact because recently I have had a renewed love for Our Lord in the Eucharist. I’ll share why in a future post.
My word for 2026 is soul. To be honest this word was recently picked for me and I have absolutely no idea why. However, I know that God works in mysterious ways and guides all things. So, I trust that this is the word He wants me to focus on for 2026. I won’t project or guess but simply trust that He has my best interests in mind…
Would you like a saint to pick you and a word to guide you through the year? Try this Saint Name Generator, take the first saint you are given, and foster a devotion to him or her. Would you like a word to act as a guide and compass for your life this coming year? Try this Word of the Year Generator, accept the word, and take it prayer each day with an open, child-like heart.
I pray you have a beautiful, fruitful 2026 and that you accept all God gives you (good and bad) as a sign of His love and faithfulness!
James M. Hahn, Author 