Mark 10:45

Tag: Time

  • A Matter of Time

    A Matter of Time

    Saturday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

    Ephesians 4:7-16; Luke 13:1-9

    Today’s gospel reading is the only time that Jesus comments on current events. There are many things he might have said about Pilate’s murderous rage against worshipers, or the tragic accident that took eighteen lives in Siloam. But look what he did say: if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did (Luke 13:3,5)! Why?

    Let me answer that question with a question: If you knew that today was your last day, what would you do? Well, Mass is a good start. After that, Confession. Then there are people to talk to: differences to iron out, wrongs to forgive, forgiveness to beg, fences to mend. And there are things you will not do: the internet, the usual line-up of TV or radio shows. In other words, you will make every moment count.

    When we compare that to life as normal, it’s easy to see how much we take time for granted. Confession? Next time; the line is too long. Fixing broken relationships? Some other time; I’m not ready. TV? The internet? Oh, there’s a lot of time to spend on those!

    This is why our Lord said what he did. As time passes and our lives go on, we lose the sense of immediacy in his call, and we risk squandering the grace he gives us in the here-and-now. We can feel his frustration in the parable; all that time and energy spent giving the fig tree everything it needed, and what was the result? It was content to take everything and give nothing in return. No wonder the owner called for its death.

    And that’s why Jesus chose the moment he did. Nothing brings home the importance of lost time more than sudden death. We think of the victims: What wouldn’t they give for just one more day with family and friends! From our own experience, we know that when we mourn the death of someone, we reminisce about the time we spent with them. What seemed like ordinary times then become treasured memories now, and there is no sorrow like that of knowing there were things we might have said to them or done with them that we never found the time for. We have to live with that loss the rest of our lives.

    And that brings us where Jesus really wants us to be: Thinking about our own lives. He knows very well that, when our final moment comes, nothing is going to matter except how we spent the time he gave us. Like the fig tree in the garden, we’ve been given everything we need to grow in every way (Ephesians 4:15): time, grace, the Church, and the virtues, to name a few. The question is, what fruit will he find? How are we building up other people? Are we growing in gifts like wisdom, knowledge, understanding, or piety? Do we see in ourselves the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)?

    These are what our time is best spent on. From that perspective, how precious those moments in the Confession line, how priceless the time spent mending broken relationships, and how inconsequential all those hours in front of the TV or computer screen.

    Of course, by the mercy of God, today is most likely not our final day, and God does not demand that every second be lived as if it is actually our last. However, he does want us to treat every moment as the gift that it is, to remember that only by the grace of God do we draw our next breath, and that what ultimately matters isn’t how much time we have been given, but what we do with that time.

  • Time for an “Awe-full” Advent

    As part of a school Christmas pageant, some first-graders reenacted the nativity story. Mary and Joseph, weary after their journey, sat by the manger and closed their eyes. The lights went out. When they came back on, Joseph woke up, looked in the manger and said, “Mary, wake up! Wake up! Look who you had!”

    As we all know, children get so excited at this time of year. Every sight, sound, and smell of the season is a wonder, and they are so full of anticipation that time seems to stand still; every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas seems like an eternity.

    But we also know that as we grow older the same time seems to fly. So many things occupy our minds; there are gifts to buy, parties to plan, places to go, people to see. Before we know it, Christmas is upon us and the only wonder that remains is where the time has gone.

    St. Gregory the Great once said that we make idols of our concepts, but wisdom is born of wonder. Every hint of wonder, every shred of joy in that little voice who cried, “Wake up! Look who you had!” is a reminder that any concept of Advent is an idol if it does not lead us more deeply to the wonder of Christ, who is Wisdom.

    It’s true that we are not children, time cannot stand still, and there are things during Advent that must be done. But it’s also true that Christ confers his Kingdom on those who trust like children, that time is what we make of it, and that our busyness is nothing but spiritual slumber when we yield to the temptation to put things before people, even ourself, and above all before our love of God, who loved us so much that he would take our flesh only to lay it down that we might live.

    Wake up! Wake up! Look who you have!

  • Ready or Not: Sunday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Ready or Not: Sunday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Wisdom 6:12-16; Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

    My father died when he was 55 years old. He went out golfing with one of my brothers and had a massive coronary on the golf course. According to the coroner, Dad died from a total blockage of the left anterior descending artery of his heart – known as the “widowmaker.” He died in less than a minute.

    Awhile after his funeral, my Mom told me something I hadn’t known. Over the last year or so Dad had been going to Confession every two weeks like clockwork. That wasn’t typical of my Dad; he was a practicing Catholic and no stranger to Confession, but when I was a kid he didn’t go every two weeks. Now he was. It got me to wondering whether he had a sense that he going to die soon.

    It also got me wondering about my own life. For example, if I knew that today was my last day on Earth, what would I change? What would I do? I think, like the foolish virgins, I would be calling out, “Lord, Lord!”

    But even more to the point, I wondered what Christ would say in reply. Today and the next two Sundays are the time the Church gives us to contemplate that question and we must ask it now because Jesus makes it clear that there comes a time when it’s too late.

    As we saw in the parable, that is the fate of the foolish. Desperate, they seek help from those around them: Give us some of your oil (Matthew 25:8). It seems like a reasonable request. Why can’t the others share? Isn’t their refusal cruel or selfish? No; not when we understand what the oil represents. The oil in the parable is everything we have done to build up the Kingdom of Heaven. So even if they wanted to, the wise couldn’t give away their good works to someone else; each person has to go out and earn their own.

    That’s why it’s so important to seek wisdom like the first reading recommends, for when we seek wisdom it will be given to us. In fact, the reading says, she will make herself known in anticipation of our desire; will wait for us, will seek us, will graciously appear to us. It sounds simple. So then, why isn’t everyone wise? Because wisdom tends to come slowly, through trial and error; those who are wise most often got that way by learning from their mistakes, suffering some loss, making some real sacrifices.

    It’s human nature to avoid that but ask yourself, when I’ve wanted something in life, really wanted it, haven’t I been willing to sacrifice time, money, comfort, or whatever I needed to, to get it? As Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, love is the soul of sacrifice. In the parable our Lord isn’t really talking about young women and a wedding; he’s talking about loving him and being his disciple. Well, what are we willing to sacrifice to get that oil of service in our lamps? Are we willing to give up even the sins that are dearest to us?

    As we know, this takes work. It’s far easier to put it off, to let ourselves drift into that deadly sin of sloth, the spiritual laziness that rationalizes sin away. The problem is that sins don’t just go away; they build silently within us like a blockage to our heart that, if we let it go long enough, becomes our own spiritual widowmaker. By then, it’s too late.

    But again there is the lesson of my father. He didn’t make any drastic, sudden changes in his life; he simply started spending a little more time every month examining his conscience and cleansing himself of sin. One small step, but regularly made. Like the first reading said, taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence, and whoever for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care (Wisdom 6:15).

    It’s not that we have to be that vigilant in this pursuit. Notice that both the foolish and the wise virgins fell asleep waiting for the bridegroom. In the second reading, St. Paul was dealing with people in Thessalonika whose loved ones had died while waiting for Christ’s return. But our Lord did not emphasize vigilance as much as he emphasized being prepared. When our flask is full of the oil of doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God, it won’t matter if we have fallen asleep while waiting for Him to return. All that will matter is that we are ready.

    So then, take the time given to you and ask yourself before it’s too late: “Am I ready?”