This article was originally written on December 31, 1758.
Time is measured and similar to both ends; it starts with a day and ends with a day, so late and tomorrow they were used to express the first day, just as universal judgment is called the last day, eternity is the source of water from which it comes and the flood in which Flows, the longest duration is short and ends its longest expansing , a moment is barely known and has already passed.
- There are also a few moments.
- Which last a minute.
- When you start to enjoy; In this way.
- It quickly spends an hour.
- Ends a day and a year (as this year) reaches its last day.
- So at the end of the year traders make their financial statements.
- Adjust their books and then ask me : What benefit did my donations bring during those twelve months?Because.
- Whatever my opinion.
- Time is not the smallest gift.
- And it has added another year to my account.
Thousands of people who came into the world after me were called to eternity before me; Isn’t that a voice that asks me to live better every moment of my life?Those who think little about time are the ones who think less about eternity. But if I look at the world to come, I will see the great importance of every moment of my time, which in the time assigned to me must prepare me for the immutable eternal state.
Oh, precious wasted time, I’ll never find again! Now this year has passed and she will never return; What have I done for God’s glory this year?Oh! It left me as a void, though it shone at that moment with great mercy, like a starry sky. Oh, I said empty?
It is the last day of the year; And how am I going to evaluate each moment? Will I consider this the last day of my life? The presumption is it just doesn’t matter if I say I’m going to live another day. I must consider each day as the last, because some have had their last day of days in which they feared little, as I fear little; in the best of cases, it will soon be the last, when perhaps this same pernicious expectation has not dissipated from my soul; Therefore, it is wise to prepare for death, to think that death is far away and that you will not be surprised when it happens suddenly? Always expect this and you will not be terrified by his approach. So I have to look at each day as the last, so that when my last day comes, it will not be unexpected, nor will it surprise me.
But I’m so sorry! This year has given me more regrettable displays of sin than my whole life. I have heard the divine name blasphemous, I have seen sins in the places of honor and all forms of perversity committed. O by the crumbs, men cast their souls!
But may divine providence protect me from these objects of pleasure, and may I, by grace, not forget what I have heard and seen!Moreover, patience, belonging to God, is remarkable. Because when you think about how much evil is being committed in the world?in public and private life, by young and old, on land and at sea?and yet that this rebellion against heaven did not begin yesterday, but has come since the fall of Adam for more than five thousand years, it is difficult to understand how the world has not yet caught fire!But this patience, whose duration is surprising, must finally give way to justice, the execution of which will be terrible.
But as I meditate on my fleeting time, midnight comes and I’m already one more year away, so goodbye forever 20191! And will I remember that, for this “goodbye”, I see my life move towards its end, and pass to another stage, closer to eternity? Not knowing if a day, a month, a year, two, or more? it will be granted to me.