We have come to the end of a year, another year of our lives, and we are beginning a new one. 2025 is already history, but for those of us who have faith, we know it is not just a year gone by. We are certain that it rests in God’s hands, who has welcomed it and keeps it with love, because we are his sons and daughters.
Perhaps at the beginning of the year we tried to be better, or even to improve our surroundings, and we did not succeed. It doesn’t matter—let us try again. Only those who persevere in their efforts truly succeed. As Saint John XXIII said: “pessimism has never borne good fruit.”
Drawing from this Sunday’s Gospel, we could set ourselves some lines of action:
- We should be light—not just any light, but the light that is connected to Christ, the true Light. To be light means to help others through our witness; it also means to radiate joy and hope.
- We are called to be bearers of life, because we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, the Son of God, who came to share life with us. Life means looking forward, having plans, loving people and the world, believing that, hand in hand with the Lord, everything can be better.
- We must learn to welcome the people around us, but above all the One who is Light and Life par excellence. We cannot act like those mentioned by Saint John in the Gospel: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” We do want to welcome him, because we believe that “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
Children of God! Does that seem like little? If we truly believe it, let us live in accordance with this great truth.
Happy New Year 2026!
Sr. M. Asunción Mitjans Gaspa
Province of Saint Raymond of Penyafort
