Tag: <span>time</span>

May 19, 2021May 6, 2021

Goodbye

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Today’s readings present us with two imminent departures, partings of beloved friends, who will never again see each other on this earth.

One departure is that of Jesus, who is about to be crucified; the other, Jesus’ disciple Paul, leader of the Christian community, who leaves for other shores and predicts his inability ever to return. In both departures, there is deep melancholy on the part of those being left. Jesus’ disciples are filled with “sheer sorrow” (cf. Lk. 22:45), and Paul’s hearers were “deeply distressed.”

Jesus and Paul are very similarly aware that the target of their mission is not earthly togetherness, but eternal togetherness: The salvation and sanctification of their friends, whom they love.

Often, we mistake relative earthly goods as having absolute value, which only eternal goods have. Anything that is subject to passing, to decay, to loss, has no absolute value, and so it is with our earthly lives and earthly goods, as exalted as these may be.

The only way to achieve as noble and complete a detachment from earthly goods as that which Jesus and Paul display is to live constantly, habitually with the goods of this world as though we were already in the process of losing them–which we are. It is an uncomfortable, even in a sense unsettling way to live, but it also brings great peace and the deepest of joys.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to prevent that your heart become fixated on passing earthly goods, as wonderful and noble as these can be, but to realize almost by second nature that they are in the process of passing, and ultimately only have lasting value to the degree that they are leveraged to help you and others attain to eternal goods.

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February 19, 2021February 3, 2021

The Whole Picture

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Sometimes we can see two artificial camps emerge among Catholics–for the purpose of this reflection, we can call them the “Here Belows” and the “There Aboves.”

The Here Belows may forget about Heaven as they pursue justice on this earth. In this, perhaps, they share much with our secular age. From every Bible passage, they may draw only lessons about rectifying income imbalances, improving health care, and promoting the causes of those traditionally underprivileged in our society–for example, minority races, women, and the materially less fortunate. They may make the error of looking to government for the solution, rather than to personal generosity and magnanimity.

The There Aboves equate religion to reaching Heaven, no matter what happens here below. They focus on practices of prayer and the sacraments, and may scrupulously follow the rules. These, however, may run the risk of arrogance and pride, and a grave neglect of charity and even simple kindness to neighbor. They may not engage in making the world a better place, except perhaps by dictating to others what rules they must follow.

Today’s first reading is a marvelous appeal to both groups. It is God who is speaking and indicating what is pleasing and not pleasing to Him–and thus, there is an implicit focus on salvation, on the eternal. But what He is emphasizing is that empty, sterile self-denial is not what pleases Him–but rather, kindness and self-giving to neighbor, particularly those less fortunate.

We may become exasperated. How can we cover all the bases? How can we be passionate about the welfare of the less fortunate to the point that we really take action for their benefit, while also keeping our eyes on Heaven, and caring even more about the eternal salvation of our brothers and sisters?

The answer is simple, albeit not easy: We must take on the Heart of Christ. He spent days healing the sick, not just as a sign, but because (as the Gospel tells us on many occasions) he was moved deeply to pity for them. At the same time, concerned for eternal salvation, He preached hard messages about seeking the narrow path, and how for the purpose of reaching Heaven, mediocrity will not do. And He did not pull punches when it came to defending the truth.

And as a criterion for being one of the “sheep” who reach Heaven, rather than one of the “goats” who are condemned, He issues one single yardstick: Kindness and care for those in need.

We cannot be a true “There Above” without developing a Heart like Christ’s, with deep concern for the earthly and eternal welfare of our brothers and sisters. And, we cannot be a true “Here Below” without developing a Heart like Christ’s, orienting everything we do for others ultimately to the aim of eternal salvation.

Let us use the greatest means available to us to develop this Christ-like heart: Prayer and the sacraments.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Make a bold request to Jesus to transform your heart fully to be like His: “Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make my heart more like Yours.” Ask Him to put you through whatever purification is necessary to inflame your heart with ardent love for His people, the same love that He has.

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January 18, 2021January 8, 2021

Time

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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September 26, 2020September 8, 2020

“Memento Mori” (“Remember Death”)

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Today’s first reading starts with the word “Rejoice,” but the rest of the reading is more sobering than it is exultant.

The reading encourages the young person to enjoy the benefit of youth and put off unpleasantries while still able.

But also to remember God, for youth is fleeting…and then the reading goes on to use beautiful poetic metaphors for the aging and death that await all of us.

Aging: “Guardians of the house [one’s limbs] tremble”; “Grinders [teeth] are silent because they are few”; “they who look through the windows [eyes] grow blind”; “the sound of the mill is low [hearing loss]”; etc.

Death: “the silver cord is snapped, the golden bowl is broken”; “the broken pulley falls into the well”; “dust returns to the earth as it once was,” “life breath returns to God who gave it.”

As so often is the case, the Psalm response puts the point of punctuation on this message: “You turn man back to dust, saying, ‘Return, O children of men.’ For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night.”

The great spiritual masters of the Church are unanimous in advising us actively to meditate on our deaths–to imagine what the circumstance might be, to close our eyes and place ourselves there. This meditation, for example, forms an explicit part of St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises. And the practice is depicted in much medieval and Renaissance art, wherein monks as they write are shown with a skull upon their desk, which is aimed at reminding them of their eventual death.

This is not some sort of macabre practice to spook us or make us sad. Rather, when we meditate on our deaths, if we do so vividly and aided by God’s grace, we may take on some of the mindset which, as our impending encounter with eternity increases our lucidity, could be useful for informing our priorities for today. Mindfulness of the rapidly passing nature of our lives will inform the wisdom with which we live each day.

Jesus had His own death always before His eyes, and today He speaks of it. He was well aware of the story arc of His life, and its conclusion. While we do not know the exact circumstances of our deaths, we can orient our lives as Jesus did toward those things that will matter for eternity, and wisely order our days according to the fleeting reality of our lives.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Unlike the disciples in today’s Gospel passage, let’s not be so afraid of the topic of death that we hesitate to ask Jesus questions about it. Close your eyes, and imagine your last moments, with as much vivid detail as your imagination can muster. Then, ask Jesus questions. How happy is He with the life you have lived, as you prepare for your definitive encounter with Him? How would He ask you to prioritize differently?

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September 25, 2020September 8, 2020

Time and the Timeless

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

God “has put the timeless into their hearts,” the first reading tells us, even though we never fully discover the full scope of this work that He has done.

What is the timeless? Well, if we are to believe St. Paul, there are three things that last: Faith, Hope, and Charity (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13). Of course, faith and hope remain in eternity only with respect to their objects–God, and the possession of God–and thus, it may be said, far from disappearing, faith and hope are fulfilled forever in eternity.

So, these are the timeless, these are the lasting, these are the unchanging. By contrast, the first reading cycles through a list of contrasting pairs. It states that as regards everything else, that which is passing and not timeless, there is an appropriate time for each extreme: birth/death, sowing/reaping, tearing down/building, etc.

In the end, the three things that last drive us in different directions in this passing world, depending on circumstance–in particular supernatural Charity, that is, the virtue that moves us to give ourselves to God and to the welfare of neighbor. Take child-raising, for example. Sometimes, the loving thing is to embrace and show affection. Other times, out of love for our children and motivated by their long-term welfare, we adopt a stern stance and apply balanced punishment.

We call the virtue by which we judge the right (and loving) course of action “prudence.”

But far beyond human prudence, that is, common sense and sound judgement, there is the infinite ocean for us to explore of our relationship with God, whereby the Holy Spirit–with His infinite creativity and pure, rich love for humanity–can instruct us in paths to follow on our adventure through time that our human prudence would never suggest to us. There is no limit to the depths of love that we can plumb in the heart of God.

Consider, for example, the Holy Spirit’s creative solution to the impossible blind alley of sin that the human race had chosen: Create a maiden who, retroactively preserved from any touch of sin by her Son’s posterior sacrifice, gives her pure “yes” in full freedom to the re-entry of God into the world–this time, in the flesh, to take on sin and take it to its defeat and demise, and then rise victorious.

You don’t find more creative–or effective–solutions than that.

While striving to practice good judgement, if our prayer life is constant and committed and we are in a state of grace, we can grow in the degree to which that good judgement is more about listening to and adopting the counsel of this Sweet Guest of the Soul, rather than arriving at reasonable decisions through dry analysis. So it is that the saints display a wisdom that exceeds anything reachable by human effort alone.

So, God is about the timeless. He places the timeless in our hearts, and He helps us in our time through the Holy Spirit.

But today’s Gospel passage reminds us that God is no longer only about the timeless. He has subjected His own eternal self, incarnate in flesh, to the vicissitudes of time, and time’s very different demands of us at different moments. For Christ, too, there was a time to embrace, and a time to correct; a time to be born, and a time to die…and, a time to rise from the dead. Today He forewarns the disciples about His time to die, and they don’t like it. They want the timeless God, unconstrained by the shackles of our temporal limitations. And yet, it is by taking on our time, with all its constraints and vicissitudes, that God redeemed within us our ability to regain access to the timeless, and soar to its endless heights.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Explain to Jesus how hard it is sometimes to make the right decisions each day and to judge, in difficult circumstances, the right path forward within the concrete, complex, imperfect realities of time. Ask Him to send you the Holy Spirit in a “double portion” (cf. 2 Kgs. 2:9) to guide you to beautiful, creative solutions as you traverse time’s paths.

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September 9, 2020August 26, 2020

A Hot Second

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

The world, and sometimes unfortunately we in the Church, are after an earthly utopia. Since the 1800s, and certainly earlier in different ways, passion and focus have lain with improving man’s lot in life. Seek the most rational and beneficial form of government. Protect our resources. Strive for global harmony. Solve all ills and inefficiencies with technology. Increase leisure, decrease suffering.

When pursued in moderation, these objectives are beautiful, inspiring, exciting, good. The Church rightly in her social doctrine advocates for them.

But today’s readings betray how easily we place excessive importance on these objectives, when in reality we should pursue them with joy, serenity, and detachment. For their contribution to human happiness will inevitably be severely limited.

The saints could not be more unanimous in emphasizing the fleeting nature of life on earth relative to eternity, like a second compared to a year, like a speck of dust compared with the universe. Sure, it makes sense to make that second, that speck as “nice” as we can. But eternity is approaching like a speeding train. Much more important it is, to take the limited time we have and make our–and others’–eternity the best that it can be.

St. Paul emphasizes how imminent this oncoming eternity is. How soon the world is passing away. We may scoff and say that two thousand years, a long time, have passed since he wrote those words. But what if the world were to end today? Would that span of time seem really that extensive, for the full development in history of humankind? Would it seem that drawn out, compared to eternity?

More importantly–the world is ending for each one of us in just a few years. Uncomfortable thought, but no less real for all that.

St. Paul tells those who are weeping to act as if they are not; those rejoicing, to act as if they are not. The afflictions and triumphs of this life are so fleeting; it is as if they are already dust.

We are battling all over social media about politics, about today’s president, whom some hate and others love. A leading crossword published today included TAFT as answer to a clue about the president elected in 1908. Passions were similarly intense and polarized about that leader. But who, save specialized historians, remembers anything about Taft’s presidency, just 100+ years later?

“The world in its present form is passing away.”

But it is Jesus’ words in today’s gospel that give the most beautiful, poignant, poetic expression to the message of the value of time relative to eternity. For indeed, blessed are those who are completely and utterly detached from their worldly security and welfare, and cling to God as their sole fundamental good. They have invested wisely, for as the world vanishes they will be filled with divine joy.

Finally, today’s psalm likewise provides beautiful expression to this theme. It depicts a beautiful maiden who leaves her father’s house, arrayed in gold, to join her king at his right hand and live in his joy. Your soul is that maiden; this world is your father’s house, which you are already in the process of leaving; your beauty is the beauty with which God has created you; your gold raiment is God’s grace in your soul; and the king’s house, your destiny, is your life with God in eternity.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Look at the intense beauty of the world around you, consider the mind-boggling advancements in technology and science. Also, contemplate the intense ongoing tragedy of poverty and human injustice. Ask Our Lord: These intense realities–how important are they to Him? How does working for their betterment impact eternity? What view should you have of your life with regard to eternity? Sit with Him and dialogue with Him a while; allow His perspective to saturate your heart.

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