– From Alphonsian Academy blog –
The ticking of the hands of the clock inevitably marks the passing of time. The Latins would exclaim: Fugit irreparabile tempus, time flees irreparably.
Yet in this passing time, there is a lesson to be learned. At the end of an intense academic year, it is our duty to take stock of the kronos, that is, the time that has passed, and to ask ourselves if it has been a kairological time. This time is opportune and full of responsibility for our own growth. In the end, therefore, of a year of reading posts, of scientific texts read and studied, we must ask ourselves: what is left for us?
Moving from kronos to kairòs means educating oneself to decode the time of life, not with the instruments that measure its quantity, but with those that analyse its quality.
To read, to form, to reflect, to write, to study, to confront oneself implies taking care of one’s formation as a ‘favourable time’ (kairòs), and this for several reasons:
- in-depth study is a manifestation of the Love that has met us and continues to elicit a sincere response;
- to study is to “give a reason for the hope that is in us” (1 Peter 3:15);
- the years of study well lived constitute a solid basis for the continuation and challenges that await us;
- to immerse oneself in moral theology, in the literature of the field, in the articles, even the polemical ones, is to learn to share man’s struggles in striving for the Absolute.
But this kairòs is called to be transformed into kerygma: the fresh and stimulating proclamation of the Gospel, continuous evangelisation and conversion of oneself, the incarnation in one’s cultural context of the richness of what one has read and shared on the blog or learnt on the Academy benches, and – above all – witnessing that with Christ we have not wasted time. The pages of this blog offer this testimony.
The time of initial and ongoing formation – a gift that not everyone enjoys – is called upon to become kerygma, proclamation, as Pope Francis wished us on 23 March last: “from the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy the Church expects that it will know how to reconcile scientific rigour and closeness to God’s people, that it will give concrete answers to real problems, that it will accompany and formulate human moral proposals, attentive to the saving Truth and the good of persons. […] May the Holy Spirit help you to be formators of consciences, teachers of that hope that opens the heart and leads to God. I bless you from my heart, thank you so much for your work, and ask you to pray for me”.
See you in September.
Fr. Alfonso V. Amarante, CSsR
President of the Alphonsian Academy
