The Use of Time

Our time in this world is brief, but there is so much we can do and offer to Our Lord in our brief existence. Sometimes it may not seem that time passes quickly, especially in our youth, but if we wait for it to become evident, it may well be too late to truly develop the many gifts we have been bestowed with.

Time, work, offering all we have to God these should be the focus of our daily lives. Yet, how often do we let our precious moments slip by? How many times have we failed to offer our daily toil properly to Our Lord? How often have we not given ourselves completely to Him? Many times, and we all have been guilty of it at some point or another, we have led separate lives, perhaps acting one way in the holiness of the Church, but a different way in the presence of friends, colleagues, acquaintance for any number of reasons. By acting in such fashions, we, in fact, desecrate ourselves and our offering to God. We are called to holiness and we should strive towards that holiness at all times. Things which are contrary to God and His law should be removed from your path, as they are obstacles to you becoming a saint and distractions to your service to God.

As Christians, we are called to develop all that we have for the service of God. Any task that we take on should be done at its best. Any skill or profession that we embrace should be mastered. We should seek perfection in all that we do so as to give it to God. When we embrace the attitude of "good enough", we do things half-heartedly and that is no way to give anything to God. Therefore, a deep and profound respect should exist in all things that we do.

This idea of deep and profound respect should not only exist in the work environment, but should be especially evident in one's prayer life. When one gives himself to prayer, his entire heart and soul should enter the divine conversation. This is an activity that should not be done begrudgingly; rather, it is an opportunity to offer time, praise, thanksgiving, and penance to a God who has bestowed all to you and gave His only Son up to the ignominious death on the cross for our redemption. The time of prayer is also a time for us to share our needs with our Lord and exercise our humility. Again in all that we do, we should give our all, for it is an offering to Our Lord.

Our Lord is a merciful Lord, but we never know the hour of His coming. Let us not wait until the latter part of our life to begin the offerings to our Lord, but begin now. Saint Josemaría Escrivá gives an excellent example of this in his book Friends of God.  He is discussing time in reference to the10 virgins from the Gospel of Matthew.

But let us follow the thread of the parable. What happens to the foolish virgins? As soon as the cry is raised, they do their best to get ready to receive the Bridegroom. They go off to buy oil. But their decision had come too late, and while they were away, 'the bridegroom came; those who stood ready escorted him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterwards those other virgins came, with the cry, "Lord, Lord, open to us".' It's not that they hadn't done anything. They had tried to do something... But in the end they were to hear his stern reply: 'I do not recognise you.' Either they didn't know how to get ready properly or they didn't want to and they forgot to take the sensible precaution of buying oil in due time. They were not generous enough to carry out properly the little that had been entrusted to them. They had been told with many hours to spare, but they had wasted their time.

Let us take a good honest look at our own lives. How is it that sometimes we just can't find those few minutes it would take to finish lovingly the work we have to do, which is the very means of our sanctification? Why do we neglect our family duties? Why that tendency to rush through our prayers, or through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? How are we so lacking in calm and serenity when it comes to fulfilling the duties of our state, and yet so unhurried as we indulge in our own whims? You might say these are trifling matters. You're right, they are, but these trifles are the oil, the fuel we need to keep our flame alive and our light shining. (Friends Of God, #41)

As we continue through this Lenten season, let us keep our flame alive and ever grow in our spiritual life by taking what may even seem unimportant and making it a holy offering. All that we do we can offer to God, but let us make a special effort to sanctify our work and all our action so that we may not be like the virgins who were caught unprepared, but will instead be constantly ready for a meeting with our Lord. Let us use our time, for we never know when it will run out, and it is known that our temporal life is fleeting but heaven or hell is eternal; therefore, let us be saints so that we may be in presence of the Almighty for all eternity.