Don’t wait for a miraculous shortcut to holiness

A Reflection for Friday after Epiphany

Find today’s readings here.

Oh to be a person with leprosy! Made clean in a flash of faith, restored to fitness and health in an instant, no heavy lifting required.

Of course, I wouldn’t stand up too well to the rigors of a chronic illness. All the Kleenex in Arabia has not proved sufficient to get this weak, whimpering vessel through a common cold. It’s the quick fix this leper’s strong faith afforded him that draws my attention.

The middle of January approaches and for many of us the strong-voiced commitments and resolutions made at the turn of the year may already be wavering. That has surely been my New Year’s practice—the writing projects left barely attended, the Mandarin unDuolingoed, the scale still tipping crazily…

Not many of us can count on miraculous shortcuts to wholeness. It’s hard work to get fixed—physically, spiritually, psychologically. We have to dig in and do the hard work on ourselves. It’s a shockingly long haul, turns out.

Now as I approach seniorhood, it seems much too late to address so many things. My children are young adults. Whatever good or ill my fathering has done them are in the rear view. It worries me.

And the mal-habits and the ruts I have dug for myself, do I have the energy to break free of them now? It troubles me.

I may not keep all my resolutions in 2026, even 2027, but here is one I hope hangs on: a faith that there is always enough time ahead of me, to not give up on myself. There is a next stage approaching fast, and I wish to be prepared for it.

Room for improvement remains for me as a husband, a friend and sibling, as a human being out in the world, surely as a father. My children still need me—and my example—if in different ways.

I will not be lifted to perfection in a lightning strike, but through a daily practice of prayer and contemplation, making room for calm and silence, letting go of the weights of regret and envy and restlessness that still pull at me.

Can I resolve myself to that discipline? I suspect it will offer rewards I can’t fully imagine.

It’s Jesus himself who will work the miraculous change, but it won’t be in a flash. I will have to pitch in, too, welcoming progress however haphazard or disjointed it is, remembering to lead with patience and mercy for all. And that includes the peevish, imperfect character typing these words.

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