Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to another. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past… so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. (Psalm 90).
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PROFILE OF THE NEW YEAR 2015
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the field be joyful and all that is therein”. (Psalm 96:11); and let us now say , “thanks be to God Almighty”, as we are living in this fragile earth, our island home, where we are praying and struggling at the beginning of the New Year, 2015, asking God to give us grace and the capacity to prevail and go on forward.
We can say these words with confidence as the New Year begins and be assured of the hope that all be well and blessed in the Dominican Republic and in the rest of the world. We feel safe that God will be with us to grant us peace, health, spiritual strength, and opportunities to live with courage and be steadfast, ongoing, and persistent in all we do for the glory of the Kingdom of God and the wellbeing of the human race. Yes, this is right and the bounding duty of the faithful and mindful persons; however, because we are in a sinful world, and since there are troubles of all sorts in our society, we are called to be attentive of contradictions, struggles between social groups, false rumors, family violence, craving in the business world, acts of injustice, intolerance, miscomprehension, government corruption, and many other strains of tension and troublesome fears. But the Lord will provide.
Here, there and everywhere there will be acts of kindness, friendship, and solidarity. However, there would also be moments of anxiety, helplessness, frustration, and anguish. Yet we hope that the presence and Divine Power will make it possible to overcome temptations and difficulties that may come before us. We have to be prepared, patient, spiritually uplifted, emotionally steady, steadfast in praying, firm in our moral-ethical convictions, and ready to uplift and testify the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and do so with self-respect and the valued virtues of faith, hope and love.
Our human weakness demands the help of God, for that reason, we pray as in Psalm 70: 1, “¡O God, deliver us; O Lord, make haste to help us!”, so that we live and let live and be faithful and just, giving due respect to the dignity of every human being.
We beseech the mercy of the Almighty One to direct us in moments of trial and temptation, of spiritual darkness, of fear and tribulation, of sickness, of uncertainly and confusion. In this respect, the words in the Letter to the Hebrews, can serve to give strength and the necessary provision to deal properly with difficulties: “HAVE STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT: TO SIZE THE HOPE SET BEFORE US. WE HAVE THIS AS A SURE AND STEADFAST ANCHOR OF THE SOUL”. (Hebrews 6:19). These words can make us confident, faithful to stand firm and to overcome the difficulties before us. This expression is recommended, and we can lean it to reinforce our faith, to broaden our trust, and to deepen our love.
It is not helpful to say that time past was better. It is not correct to think that former days were better. It is better to spend our time, energy, labor, and efforts at this time and always, and try hard and continually to help bring peace, comfort, education, sanity, justice to all people in the world. It is better to be faithful, diligent, disciplined, upright, honest, thoughtful, emotionally stable, physically well, mentally alert, and always ready to go forward in all stage we are called to accomplish.