Daily Reflections - October 29,2012

GOD’S TIME

 

One outstanding feature of our postmodern times is the so called “contraction of space and time.” We live in a shrinking globe and what happens halfway around the globe is known by everyone else in “real time.” Delayed telecasts are no longer the norm, unless they are mere replays of an event that most people could see blow by blow as it happens. Time no longer hangs heavy on people who don’t know what to do with it. Time, in fact, seems shorter, and the months and years gallop down history avenue at such a dizzying clip that many people now ask, “Where did all those years go?”

Now, we literally have to “make time” for everything. We need to find time for church when, decades ago, it was simply part of our Sunday, no questions asked. But with so much to do and so much “infotainment” to keep track of, we literally need to squeeze in Mass attendance while we are busy malling, being entertained, or simply spending time productively in the new cathedrals of commerce.

Old Testament culture knew nothing of this. For the ancient Hebrews, time was neatly compartmentalized into categories — work time and God’s time; days of toil and a day of rest, the Sabbath. Christian culture followed suit, with its dedication of Sunday, the day of the resurrection, as the day of the Lord, the day for man, the day for God, and the day for the Church. But that compartmentalization did not mean that all days other than Sunday were not meant to be under the sway of God who is the Lord of all times and seasons and the God of history. This is what today’s Gospel passage reminds us of — that God is Lord of the Sabbath, and that time, all time, belongs to God.

By all means, let us do our work today with dedication and commitment, along with a thousand and one other concerns. They all are God’s concerns, too. For in Him, there is only one time, the time of our salvation. And it is now, not tomorrow. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you set aside Sunday as a time of resting in the Lord?

 

Father, You rested on the seventh day of creation. Help me realize that I, too, need rest after an entire week’s work. May I seek my true rest in Your presence.