As the ball drops and the champagne bottles pop, Catholics can easily find themselves in a post-Christmas rut, unsure of how to make the most out of a time which has become something of a secular limbo as the new year is ushered in with little to no thought. 

However, the new year holds a particular religious and deeply spiritual meaning to the Catholic Church, with Jan. 1 marking the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary in relation to her motherhood of Jesus Christ.

While the truth of that commemoration may have become overshadowed by secular celebrations in our society at large, Jean-Pierre Fortin says that Mary is the perfect model for Catholics looking for practical ways to get the most out of New Year's. 

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“ While it is really important to take the time to stop and celebrate what has been accomplished and has been meaningful in the previous year, we often move to the new year and forget as if there was nothing to ponder. Mother Mary is the character who really ponders; she takes the time to humbly reflect about what the angel is telling her, and while it makes little sense to her at first, she is able to ponder and inevitably answer,” said Fortin, Regis-St. Michael's Faculty of Theology’s  associate professor of practical theology and director of field education. 

“It's a process, a journey and a deep spiritual maturing that takes place, and she needs to grow into the person she needs to be in order to be able to say yes. In a Roman Catholic sense, this time is what the Holy Family is modelling, coming together and bringing life and the connection between bringing human life and God into the world.” 

Removed from the commercialization of the celebration, Fortin explains how the new year can be used as a time for life review and spiritual pause, with the end and beginning of the year period lending itself to a natural moment to break from the busyness of routine daily life and simply reflect on how often God showed up in your life this year.

“Then ask yourself, was I present? Did I pay attention? Did it make a difference to my life? And did I follow up on the summons wherever they might have been that God gave me at that time,” he said. 

It’s a season that, following the joy and splendour of Christmas, mirrors major life transitions such as reaching the age of reason, embracing a vocation or even mid-life reevaluations, all of which relate to a time of self-examination that New Year’s affords us. 

Still, there is time for ample celebration on the completed year, Fortin reminds us. Having become something of a caricature of itself, celebration does not merely amount to bottomless drinks, decorative parties or taking on Times Square, but rather an appreciation of another year’s work guided by God, complete. 

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“ What exactly are we celebrating? Where does the celebration lead us? Does it open us to something that's meaningful or is it just an endpoint before we go forward? We want to make this time bring about new life, new hope and new potential,” Fortin said. 

Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a Catholic priest at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, South Carolina, sees a similar opportunity as Fortin does and shares his thoughts on a practical step Catholics can take during this time of year. 

“Families or individuals could have a time of thanksgiving or prayer before the ball drops, as it were, giving thanks to God for all of the blessings of the last year,” he told The Catholic Register. 

Prayer is one of the answers for Fortin as well, specifically the prayer form that one feels most authentically themselves before God, whether vocal prayer, meditation on Scripture, a centring prayer or many other methods. The key is a shift in stance to one of gratitude, recognizing the “giftedness of all things,” as he puts it. 

In turn, Catholics can also look to turn the tedious acts of a rather mundane suspended time of year into moments of prayer by making them free offerings, a practice many Church Fathers interpreted as how to pray ceaselessly. 

There’s also the ever-popular tradition of New Year’s resolutions, a concept that, much like general celebrations, is not inherently pointless, but something that can be reframed and reimagined in a spiritual, God-centred way. 

“ If you truly want to make resolutions, you first need to pause and pay attention to what is working and what is not in one's life and one’s way of engaging with themselves, others and God. Instead of making abstract lists of goals, you can think of this spiritual improvement in terms of a journey instead of a checklist,” he said. 

“It is an unrealistic thing about resolutions that if you check the boxes, you don't have to think about that (goal) any more, but the point is that the spiritual life and journey is an ongoing thing, you're never done with deepening your life of faith. Instead of trying to get rid of it, let's think about how we can embrace it, so that taking it one step at a time becomes something realistic, hopeful, fulfilling and even life-giving.” 

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Resolutions and celebrations included, Catholics remain invited to a restful pause this New Year’s, a chance to acknowledge God’s presence throughout 2025, celebrate His gifts with a post-Christmas joy and to step forward by opening anew to the Christ who desires to be born in us.

As we are reminded by Fortin, we can do so simply, one prayerful and pondered “yes” at a time.