Ready to try an old approach to a New Year’s resolution? Saint Ignatius may provide some guidance

Making and breaking New Year's resolutions is a familiar and discouraging annual ritual for many people. As the scholar of renaissance rhetoric Marjorie O'Rourke Boyle suggests, Ignatius is using the story about himself to redirect his readers' attention to God and a higher purpose. Practical guidance from Ignatius In the "Spiritual Exercises," his manual for prayer guides, Ignatius suggests a five-step daily process, known as the "Examen," as a way to tell and retell life-transforming stories. As a Christian, Ignatius looked especially to the example of compassionate self-sacrifice in Jesus' death on the Cross to hold difficult moments in a higher faith perspective. By incorporating discouraging moments into the flow of a larger story, Ignatius learned how to move beyond the shame and confusion caused by failure and misdeeds to a healthy sense of sorrow.