“Consider that today has been given to you so that through it you may earn eternity. Resolve firmly to make good use of the day for this cause” (St. Francis de Sales).
Today is the day that has been given to me by my Heavenly Father! We cannot know for sure whether there will be a tomorrow. If we make good use of today for eternity and do not waste it, our life will take on a fruitful focus.
Before the day ends, it is highly recommended to enter into dialogue with the Heavenly Father to examine whether we have fulfilled the purpose of the day, what we have done well, and what we need to improve. This attitude can awaken great vigilance in us and make each day something special—a conscious step toward eternity. But the criterion for measuring this is not the worldly mentality of performance, since in the Christian life we are entrusted with tasks of various kinds. For example, there may be days when nothing goes right for us and when we must persevere with patience, perhaps even putting up with ourselves and our limitations. In this case, what we can gain for eternity is patience and trust in God.
The decisive thing is that we gratefully accept the day that our Father gives us, with all the circumstances it brings. It is the Lord’s day, which He gives us! At night, we must give it back to Him with trust and gratitude. In this way, we can put into practice the teaching of St. Francis de Sales in one of his maxims: “Whoever is able to maintain serenity in the midst of pain and fatigue, and peace in the midst of setbacks and overwork, is already almost perfect.”
Since it is the Lord’s day, no matter what happens, we can exclaim with the psalmist: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps 118:24).