.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

Now we live with great expectation,

and we have a priceless inheritance – an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you,

pure and undefiled,

beyond the reach of change and decay.

.

– 1 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)

.

.

For God says,

“At just the right time, I heard you.
On the day of salvation, I helped you.”

Indeed, the “right time” is now.

Today is the day of salvation.

.

– 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NLT)

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

Today is a good day for taking stock of the year now ending

and for making resolutions for the year about to begin.

.

It is a good opportunity for asking pardon for our omissions,

and for the lack of love that caused them.

It is a good occasion of thanksgiving for all the good things God has given us.

.

We are pilgrims on this earth

walking along a path full of tribulations and of God’s consolation;

of suffering and sadness,

of blessings and joy.

We have a life in time which we are now living,

and another life outside time to which we are making our way.

.

The time at our disposal is an important part of the inheritance God has left us.

Time represents the separation between the present and that moment when we stand before God

with our hands either empty or full.

.

Only now in this life can we obtain merit for the next.

In fact, each single day of ours is a period given us by God

so that we may fill it with love for Him,

with love for those around us,

with work well done,

with putting the virtues into practice;

in a word, a life full of good works pleasing to God’s eyes.

.

Now is the time to amass thepriceless inheritance.

For each one of us the “right time” is now.

Today is the day of salvation.

Once it is past, there will be no other time.

.

The time each one of us has at his or her disposal is short,

but long enough to tell God that we love Him

and to accomplish the work He has given us.

.

We come to the end of the year asking forgiveness for so many failures to respond to grace,

for all those occasions when Jesus placed Himself at our side

and we made no effort to see Him…and so we let Him pass by.

.

At the same time let us end the year by thanking God for the great mercy He has shown us

and for the innumerable and often unforeseen benefits He has conferred on us.

.

Today we express our sorrow and our thanksgiving,

and today we resolve to intensify our love for God

and to increase our struggle to acquire virtues and to get rid of our defects

– as if next year were to be the last that God was going to give us.

.

.

.

REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

.

Thank You, Lord God. Forgive me, Lord God.

Grazzi, Sinjur Alla. Ahfirli Sinjur Alla.

.

 

 

[*] Today’s reflection is sourced from the seven-volume work “In Conversation with God” by Padre Francisco Fernández Carvajal.