Happy New Year, By My Side friends, and welcome to 2026.
I hope you all enjoyed a blessed Christmas season with your family and friends.
The new year often brings with it a sense of new beginnings. It invites resolutions—healthier habits, clearer priorities, renewed hope. Yet as Catholics, the most important place to begin is often the most overlooked: the soul.
The Church teaches that the soul is the very centre of who we are—the place where God dwells, speaks, and heals. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). At the turning of the year, this question gently but firmly calls us to look inward.
For all of us—but especially for those who are separated or divorced—this invitation can feel complicated. Many carry wounds that are unseen: grief, rejection, shame, confusion, or a quiet sense of spiritual dislocation. Life may feel fractured, and faith may feel harder than it once did. Yet it is precisely here that the soul matters most.
Your soul is not defined by what went wrong, what you endured, or what others misunderstand. It is defined by God’s unchanging love. The Catechism reminds us that the soul is created directly by God and destined for eternal life. No marital status—separated, divorced, remarried, or single—can diminish its dignity.
The new year is not about becoming someone new, but about allowing God to restore what is already yours. Healing the soul does not require perfect circumstances; it requires honesty and trust. It begins when we let God meet us where we are, not where we think we should be.
For separated and divorced Catholics, caring for the soul may mean:
-
returning to prayer, even if it feels awkward or painful
-
bringing unresolved sorrow to Confession or spiritual direction
-
choosing forgiveness as a process, not a demand
-
staying connected to the sacraments, even when emotions lag behind faith
The soul heals slowly, gently, and often invisibly—like roots growing deep beneath winter soil. God does not rush His work. He honours it.
As this new year begins, consider making a different kind of resolution—not to fix everything, but to tend to your soul. Give God permission to console, strengthen, and guide you one step at a time. Trust that even in brokenness, holiness is possible.
You are not spiritually behind.
You are not forgotten.
You are not outside of God’s plan.
This year, choose to protect what is eternal within you. The soul is where God waits—and where true new beginnings always start.
Remember this: God is always By Your Side.
With love,
MJ xo
Recent Comments