This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
God lives outside time, in eternity. But like Michelangelo creating the pietà, God sculpts time lovingly, carefully, with the greatest of attention to the details of the rises, the peaks, the valleys He needs to chisel into it to accomplish His design.
Typically, we live on a rise, in a peak, or in a valley, and that is all we can see; we cannot see the holy image He is forming–only the ups and downs of our little piece.
In the first reading, we see that there was a time for the priesthood of Aaron, insufficient, but important and symbolic. Then, there was the time for the fulfillment in Christ of the one high priesthood, as He breathed His last on the cross and said, “It is finished.”
Sometimes we live our faith as if it were stagnant in time, like some sort of perennial rulebook. And certainly, some elements–for example, prayer and the sacraments–are virtually timeless.
But in today’s gospel, Jesus emphasizes the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit as He helps us to read God’s cues in the time that He is sculpting for us. What is the cloth with which He is calling us to patch today’s wineskins?
The Christian who lives the perennial Ten Commandments is faithful, but the Christian who develops a profound relationship with the Holy Spirit in His soul–and recognizes, follows His timely cues–that Christian is holy, and with that holiness sanctifies the whole Mystical Body of Christ that is the Church.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that you yearn for holiness, for that holiness that can make you as effective as the Blessed Virgin in extending the effect of the infinite power of His Cross. Ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to sculpt your reactions to properly match the time and circumstances with which He has surrounded you.
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