By Fr. Rafael Saiz, SDB
(Watsonville, California) – We started the last month of this year, and time passes quickly. However, the seconds have always been the same. Throughout these months, we have been able to live so many things and enjoy great moments; even so, time always seems “elusive.” An ancient Latin expression reflects this feeling of the human being: “Tempus irreparable fugit.” Yes, everything ends, and time is “inapprehensible.”
It does not stop or go backward, even if it can be manipulated in clocks; it does not deny something that belongs to it. Human thought has always agreed that time passes, flees, nothing remains, everything changes, this being the force that
drives life. The beauty is that there are always new opportunities.
It is December, coinciding with the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The days will begin to gain light, preparing nature for a new spring bloom. Life is present, and we will experience it by celebrating the incarnation of Jesus at Christmas. The first Sunday of the month is Advent, a sign of the “new liturgical year.” We will again go through stages of our salvation in the life of Jesus to end the cycle with the next celebration of Christ, King of the universe, in the year 2025.
Seizing every new opportunity to grow as children of God is beautiful! Don Bosco used to say that “every second is a treasure.” However, for him, the presence before Jesus in the Sacrament was the driving force of everything; that is why, in this Salesian house, we wish to end this year 2024 in adoration, giving thanks for what we have lived and blessing what is to come. Yes, “The greatest treasure to be found in heaven and on earth is in the Tabernacle, for there dwells the Owner of all
creation” (Don Bosco).
