Joy Aker, MA is a spiritual director, labyrinth facilitator, and a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. She has a master’s degree in Spirituality from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. She was also trained in Ignatian spirituality and the Ignatian Exercises at Ignatius Jesuit Center in Guelph, Ontario. Her focus is on helping others to develop a holistic spirituality which looks to wholeness in body, mind and spirit. Joy also has a great interest in assisting others as they deepen their relationship with God through individual spiritual direction and group retreats in which she will be presenting New Year, New Beginnings on December 31 @ 9:30 am – 4:00 pm.
As we get ready to welcome 2025, I am reminded that the month of January is named after the Roman god Janus. Janus was said to be the god of thresholds and transitions, with two faces looking in two directions – one looking straight ahead and the other backwards.
Our lives are a constant series of endings and beginnings. Each new year is a time of new beginnings. This is a perfect time to begin (or continue) praying the Examen. This practice of reflecting on your day, its gifts and graces, and the progress you are making in life with Christ was given to us by St. Ignatius of Loyola, and will be part of our New Year’s Eve retreat day. We look behind us and remember the many people, places, and events that have brought us to this point in our lives, and we look forward to the many surprises life will offer us as we move forward into the future.
As we enter into the Christmas season, I invite you to reflect this new year/new beginning prayer/poem, written by Pastor Ted Loder. It can be found in Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle.
O God, help me to believe in beginnings
and in beginning again,
no matter how often I’ve failed before.
Help me to make beginnings:
to begin going out of my weary mind
into fresh dreams,
daring to make my own bold tracks
in the land of now;
to begin forgiving
that I may experience mercy;
to begin questioning the unquestionable,
that I may know truth;
to begin disciplining
that I may create beauty;
to begin sacrificing
that I may accomplish justice;
to begin risking
that I may make peace;
to begin loving
that I may realize joy.
Help me to be a beginning for others
to be a singer to the song-less,
a storyteller to the aimless,
a befriender of the friendless;
To become a beginning of hope for the despairing,
of assurance for the doubting,
of reconciliation for the divided;
To become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing,
of friendship for the forgotten;
To become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured,
of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken,
of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.
Help me to believe in beginning
to make a beginning
to be a beginning,
so that I may not just grow old,
but grow new,
Each day of this wild, amazing life
you call me to live
with the passion of Jesus Christ. Amen.