This is a time for hope and desire,

for joyful anticipation, for going out to the crossroads and pathways.

This is a time for having our eyes wide open,

for watching distances as wide as the horizon

and for light footsteps through streets and squares.

This is a time for waiting rooms,

for unexpected journeys,

for long and happy rambles,

of good dreams which come true

and germination full of life.

This is a time of proclamations and surprises,

for watchmen, sentinels and postmen,

for minstrels, prophets and pilgrims,

and all those lovers of utopia

who follow the shining star.

This is a time for lights, torches and candles,

of half-open doors and windows,

of whispers, trails and refugee boats,

of footprints in the sky and on earth

and also in the hearts of people.

This is a time for the poor and for inmigrants,

for outcasts, exiled and displaced persons,

for those expelled from their homes,

who are drenched by rain in the street

and for all those people who are nameless..

This is a time for those who do not arrive and pray,

for hearths that are renewed and maintained.

For those who discuss matters serenely

and for those who suffer greatly in the present economic crisis

in spite of so many electoral promises.

This is a time for hiking over hills and dales

for singing in prisons that open their doors,

for breakiing handcuffs, chains and fetters,

for crowning coronets of service and dignity

and for maturing like leaves that sail in the wind.

This is a time for Isaiah and John the Baptist,

for Mary and Joseph, without nightmares,

embarked on the divine adventure

passing sleepless nights in their Narazene hours.

It is a time for making promises..

It is a time for good news!