TIME AND ETERNITY

TIME AND ETERNITY – Feast of All Souls, Year C

            What we do in time, what we experience in time, who we spend our time with, affects our eternity.

The non-renewable resource of time is a gift from God. What we do with our earthly time is a gift back to God. Whatever time we have lived thus far can never be repeated. Being time conscious without being anxious makes sense. God works in time. We too need to be about the important work of building our relationship with the Lord and doing His work on earth. While our failures in time can never really be made up for, the state of purgatory purges and cleanses us and helps us to grow in God’s love, which is the major work in time.

            We tend to make better use of time when we know it is short in relationship to something about to happen. It’s amazing how much we can get done when we have deadlines to meet or we are preparing for important events. Without deadlines and important events, time may become something just to pass through. Prisoners think in terms of just “doing time”. Time passes quickly for those involved in life and goes slow for those who aren’t. The more we realize what life is for, and what we need to be about, the shorter time seems and the faster it seems to pass. The young think of time as endless and bountiful and for that reason, a resource to be squandered, wasted, or at least not used to full advantage and especially for events which seem so far in the future, such as death. The maturing sense time’s importance, its value, its passing, and its being irreplaceable.

            God tries to keep us turned into His time. We are reminded of great spiritual events to take place, such as our own death, the different battles of good and evil, saints and angels, and the second coming of Christ. Daniel proclaims what he heard from the Lord. “At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; It shall be a time of unsurpassed distress since nations began until that time.” Each age and individual has to come to grips with the value of time and its events. What is done in time has effects in eternity. “And those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”

            As we go through time, the most important reality to be aware of is the love of God revealed in Jesus. In time there are trials, distresses, disappointments, sufferings, dangers from within and from without, struggles with sin and its forces. These can threaten our awareness of God’s love. Paul proclaims that God is for us and has proven His love in not sparing His only begotten Son. Most have such experiences. The belief and awareness of the love of God makes the difference as surely as the love of humans makes in our lives. Love, both human and divine, makes human life bearable and possible, joyful and life giving. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, not depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:39) We too in our faith can have the same certainty.

            Central to our life in time, we need to be growing in love with Christ and remaining in His company. To attempt to pass through life and time with all its experiences without Christ’s love and company is a despairing thought. There is a great sadness in those who do. Jesus prays before the Father His prayer. “Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with Me, that they may see My glory that you gave Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” It was awareness of the Father’s love that led Jesus to embrace our life leading to His death on the cross. The same awareness changes us too.

            One of God’s great mercies is purgatory. If we have not fully used our time on earth or have even misused it through positive sin, even though we basically chose God and believed in the Lord here, He cleanses and purifies us by His love. Only by being purified and cleansed completely can we enjoy the fullness of His presence and vision.

            All Souls Day calls us to pray for those in purgatory and to think about the importance of time, what we do and experience in time, and the company we are keeping.

Divine Mercy Reflection #1333

“I want to live and die like a holy soul, with my eyes fixed on You, Jesus, stretched out on the Cross, as the model for my actions.”