We are the times: an Augustinian perspective to begin 2026
“«Bad times, weary times» —so say men—. Let us live well, and the times will be good. We are the times; as we are, so are the times ” (Sermon 80).
With these words, Saint Augustine dismantles a complaint that spans generations. He does not deny the difficulty or the weariness of history, but shifts the focus of the problem: the times are not an external reality that we simply suffer; the times are shaped by the concrete lives of people. As we begin the year 2026, this statement directly challenges us and invites us to review the attitude with which we begin a new stretch of the road.
From Augustinian spirituality, we propose three attitudes to live well and, thus, begin to transform our times.
1. Return to the interior: start the year from within
Saint Augustine insisted again and again on the need for interiority:
«Do not go outside; return to yourself. Truth dwells in the inner man» (De vera religione, 39,72).
Starting a new year is not just setting external goals or planning activities. It is, above all, an exercise of returning to the heart. Haste, noise, and overexposure end up emptying the meaning of our decisions. Living well implies learning to listen to ourselves before God, discerning from silence, and allowing truth to inhabit our interior again.
A year that is born without interiority runs the risk of being just an accelerated repetition of the previous one.
2. Order our loves: decide what place the essential occupies
For Saint Augustine, the problem is not to love, but to love in a disordered way. Living well means learning to place each reality in its proper place.
When the secondary becomes absolute, the heart is scattered and life loses direction.
Starting the year 2026 from this perspective implies asking ourselves: what occupies the center of my life today? What energies am I giving to what does not build up? What loves need to be purified?
Ordering affections does not impoverish life; it liberates it. And a free heart generates more human, more just, and more hopeful times.
3. Live with active hope: do not resign ourselves to “bad times”
Saint Augustine does not propose a naive or evasive spirituality. Living well is not closing our eyes to reality, but assuming it with hope. As Scripture reminds us:
«Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts» (Rom 5:5).
Permanent complaint paralyzes; Christian hope mobilizes. As we begin this new year, we are called not to settle into the discourse of disenchantment, but to be protagonists of small gestures of good, justice, and reconciliation. That is where the change of times begins.
Living well to transform the times
The year 2026 will not be different just because the calendar changes. It will be different if we change. Saint Augustine reminds us that history is not transformed first from great discourses, but from the daily conversion of the heart.
Living well —with interiority, order, and hope— is not an abstract ideal: it is a concrete responsibility. Because, in the end, we are the times.
