When the Fullness of Time had Come

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Gal 4: 4). So, let us consider, what is time? Time is a great mystery. St. Augustine noticed that if someone told him about time, he knew what it was about, but if someone asked him to give him a definition of time, he could not do it, because time is at the same time something very long and something very short. It is long for someone who suffers; it is short for someone who feasts, although it is mathematically the same time, the same number of minutes or hours.

Both the first and last words of Scripture refer to time, they speak of time: “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1); "In the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1: 1); "I will come soon" (Rev 22:20). "In the beginning", "soon" - these are words that refer to time. For us, time is like a frame, a case, a place for the history of salvation to be made present. It begins with the creation of the world and the sequence of events is determined by God: " Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the seasons, the days and the years" (Genesis 1:14).

Time passes fast. Psalm 90 tells us that “a thousand years in your eyes are merely a day gone by, before a watch passes in the night (Ps 90: 4).

And the eternal Word of the Father, the Son of God, wanted to enter into time and dwell among us, which we especially contemplate in this Christmas season: " when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman " (Gal 4: 4). St. Paul in the second Letter to the Corinthians tells us about the opportunities that time offers us: “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6: 1-2).

Our sufferings, our trials, our crises, our joys and our hopes - all come true over time. And if we were to think back to the time when we came to use our reason and analyze it up to this day, we would see that during that normal time that was passing (kronos) we also had, we also experienced special moments of grace, the closeness of the Lord (kairos). It is the New Testament that uses these two terms, two terms for time: kronos, time, this ordinary time, normal, everyday, and kairos - the time of grace, the time of God's special visitation. How many moments of grace, how many moments of "kairos" we have had in our lives...? These are different moments for everyone: the day of the first Holy Communion, the day of recognizing vocation, the day of entering the monastery, the day of profession, the day of the sacrament of marriage ... Or some special attempt to which God has subjected us; or meeting some person; or maybe reading a book; or maybe a special experience of God in prayer. There is no room for resignation in spiritual life. For a man who goes to God, no time is wasted. Even the time, humanly most senseless, can be spiritually most mature and lead to a profound change.

At the beginning of the year, many of us ask ourselves: What will the New Year be like? What will happen in our life, in the world? These questions are not easy to answer. There will be many events that are beyond our control, that we cannot plan. But there will also be events that depend on us, our honesty, sincerity, fidelity and self-sacrifice. The New Year may be a faded copy of the previous year or, it may actually be new. That is, filled with our responsibility and active presence. A year that will leave a mark, our mark.

Today, on the beginning of the New Year, let us take the calendar into our hands. Let us touch the individual pages with our hand. And let us realize that each of them has different hopes. First of all, God. Each day is an expression of the hope, which God has in us. But also, the hopes of others towards us. Others expect good, mercy, love from us. And finally, our hopes, personal, precise and the vague, outlined in front of our eyes.

Let us learn to thank the Lord for everything, for the hours of light and for the moments of darkness. Above all, let us thank Him for always being close to us. And, contemplating on time today, thanking for the past year and beginning the New 2025 Year of the Lord, let us renew our trust in the Lord. He, who has been with us through the years gone by, will not leave us in the future. He is the Author of the time in which we live and of the eternity towards which we are walking. And on the way of life of each and every one of us, he placed His Mother from whom He was born in human flesh "when the fullness of time had come" (cf. Gal 4: 3). Let her maternal protection accompany us constantly.

Giubileo 2025
We are at the beginning of the jubilee year. This is a special time of God's grace. Pope Francis, in his official proclamation of the Year of Jubilee wrote: SPES NON CONFUNDIT. “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years. My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches. For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as “our hope” (1 Tim 1:1), Pope Francis, BULL OF INDICTION OF THE ORDINARY JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2025

 Yes, we are the Pilgrims of Hope.

Concluding my reflections on time, I would like to remind all of us of the words of Scripture from the Book of Qoheleth:

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
What profit have workers from their toil?
I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about.

God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life. Moreover, that all can eat and drink and enjoy the good of all their toil—this is a gift of God. I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by”. ( Eccl 3:1-15)

Happy New Year
fr. george

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