The Sacredness of the Gift of Time

…the sacredness of the gift of time challenges us to welcome each moment as coming from the hands of our loving Father, who sent His Son into the world to sanctify all things, including time.  To develop such a disposition, we must be healed of tendencies to grasp time for our own self-fulfilling purposes, to neglect valuing the “wasted time” between events and destinations, and to run late continually because we try to force too many projects into too short a time.  Instead, let us run to Christ as His “little ones” who open themselves to Christ’s marvelous revelation; let us find “rest” in the Lord Jesus Himself, rather than in our own achievements, and become “meek and humble of heart like Him (cf. Mt. 11:25-30).  Through our lectio divina, our praying the Divine Office, and our efforts to praise God for the lavish gifts of the present moment and recognize, with Saint Paul, that “now is a very acceptable time…now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2).   

from Lessons from Saint Benedict, Finding Joy in Daily Life

by Donald S. Raila, OSB