The long awaited day has arrived! Today I start my vacations, a few days in which to be one hundred percent with the family; in which to sleep more or, at least, without being subject to schedules; in which to enjoy my land full of sea and sun ... They will be happy days, for sure, but I have to admit that my feeling is bittersweet because, that these long-awaited days arrive, means that they are already beginning to run out.
Eduardo Punset said that happiness is just before happiness, and I agree with him one hundred percent. My feeling of happiness yesterday, just before starting my vacation time was much greater than today, when the hours of my supposed happy moment have already begun to run.
The same thing happens with any circumstance in life: that first sip of beer is not the same as the second; the explosion of joy when they announce that one has won the lottery is much greater (it has never happened to me, of course, but I'm sure it is) than when one receives the income to the account; the outward journeys are much more beautiful than the return ones, although the landscape is the same; the night of Epiphany is much more fun than the day...
What atheist Punset wanted to tell us without knowing it is that man's happiness is found in hope. Yes, that theological virtue that springs from the heart of the Gospel that is the beatitudes and that tells us that something good is coming, that a better time and an even better end always awaits us. God has placed in the heart of each one of us a longing for happiness that invites us to hope against all hope, because a day will come when poverty, tears, hunger and thirst, persecution, injustice... will be left behind.
Hope has been, and continues to be, the driving force of civilization. It is behind every undertaking, every social conquest, every scientific or technological advance, every discovery, every earth or space exploration and even every sporting feat. Precisely in these days when we are watching the world's best athletes compete, the Olympic motto "Citius, altius, fortius" (faster, higher, stronger) has once again come to the fore, capturing the essence of this infinite human desire to improve, to go further, to surpass oneself.
Not by chance, the motto that symbolizes the Olympic spirit is the fruit of Christian thought, since it was the French Dominican friar Henri Didon, who came up with it as a slogan for his school. A great friend of the founder of the Modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who borrowed the Latin phrase for his project, he was a great defender of the pedagogical qualities of sport, promoting the participation of his students in numerous competitions and counting on the support of Pope Leo XIII.
"Citius, altius, fortius", faster, as fast St. Paul claims to run in his race towards the goal, towards the heavenly prize.
Higher, as high is the life that St. Teresa expects and that makes her die for not dying.
Stronger, as St. John the Baptist proclaims that he is the one who comes after him and who calls us to a new and full life at his side.
Vacations come and go, just like the Olympics, but heaven awaits us, my friends. That will be the glory! Be happy.
Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.
