What Time is It? A Christian Perspective on Time As We End the Church Year

By Deacon Keith Fournier
11/18/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The real question is not whether we will mark time, but how we will do so

Human beings have always marked time.The real question is not whether we will mark time, but how we will do so. What events and what messages are we proclaiming in the calendaring of time? For the Christian, time is not a tyrant ruling over us. Rather, it is a teacher, instructing and presenting us with opportunity. Rather than a foe, it is a friend. Its role and reach is a part of the redemptive loving plan of God. In the Incarnation, the eternal Word became flesh; breaking into time to transform it from within. He now gives us time as a gift, a field of choice wherein we can grow in holiness and freedom

We are to live as though time really does matter

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CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - As we approach the end of the Liturgical year our readings for Mass point us to the culmination of our experience of time and the beginning of eternity. With vivid language we hear of the "parousia", the Second Coming of the Lord. Sadly, a virtual cottage industry has grown up around a misguided attempt to "read the signs of the times", complete with timelines and false predictions. Many of these efforts generate fear, rather than inviting the living faith which is the key to making ourselves ready for the great event.

Christians have always believed in, and anticipated, the Second Coming of the Lord. It is the focal point of our life and worldview. The early Christians used an Aramaic word to express the hope it generated "Maranatha", loosely translated "Come Lord Jesus". The words written by the beloved Disciple John in the Revelation given to him on that island of Patmos, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20) - reflect an early liturgical phrase and reveal a lifestyle of living ready.

This event, the Second Coming, is our "True North." Jesus will come to close the current period of human history and establish the Kingdom. During these last weeks of the Church year which lead us to the marvelous Feast of Christ the King of the Universe, we are invited to reflect on how we are living the fullness of the Gospel and whether we are making ourselves - indeed the entire human race and created order - more ready for His Return.

Sadly, for many, the mere thought of the "end" of this world as we know it causes fear. Not unlike the fear of death which so mercilessly grips those who have not experienced being set free by Jesus Christ. In the words of the ancient troparion of the Easter Liturgy, "Christ has Risen from the Dead Trampling on death by death." Christians need not fear death, it is for us a change of habitation and a portal to eternal life. That ancient Troparion continues to expound on the wonderful effects of the work of Jesus Christ for us, "and on those in the tombs, lavishing life."

The author of the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament of the Bible further explains why jesus died in these words "Through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage". So, for Christians, these days, the end of the liturgical year,can be an invitation to reflect on time. To ask ourselves questions such as "What Time Is it?" and "What are we doing with the time we have left?"

The Church year is a treasure to be opened as we age.Like so much in our Catholic faith and practice we get out of it what we put into it. We mark time as a Church by the great events of salvation history. One reason is so that we can enter more fully into their deeper meaning as we age and they can enter more fully into us, changing us and effecting our conversion. So, I offer some reflections on time to give us a perspective on time as we approach the Feast of Christ the King.

Marking Time

Human beings have always marked time by significant events. The real question is not whether we will mark time, but how we will do so. What events and what messages are we proclaiming in the calendaring of time? For the Christian, time is not a tyrant ruling over us. Rather, it is a teacher, instructing and presenting us with opportunity. Rather than a foe, it is a friend. Its role and reach is a part of the redemptive loving plan of God. In the Incarnation, the eternal Word became flesh; breaking into time to transform it from within.

He now gives us time as a gift, having removed the curse by defeating death. Time becomes a field of choice wherein we can grow in holiness and freedom. We participate in God's plan to recreate the entire cosmos in and through Jesus Christ. Time is the road along which this loving plan of redemption proceeds. We who have been baptized into Christ participate in this plan by living in the Church, the seed of the eternal kingdom.

Christians believe in a linear timeline in history. There is a beginning and an end, a fulfillment, which is a new beginning. Time is heading somewhere. That is as true of the history of the world as it is our own personal histories. Christians mark time by the great events of the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are moving toward His loving return. We mark our Christian culture with events of importance from the ongoing "family", history of the Church.

The members of that family were birthed from the wounded side of the Savior on the Cross-at Calvary's hill. That family was sent on mission when He breathed His Spirit into them at Pentecost. We remember them, ...

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

Anthony Coffey
5 months ago
The Time

Ask the Time what O’Clock it is,

The Time says what !…

There is no Time,

No Time ?…

No Time for what ?

No Time to make Time….

Make Time for what….?

To…………..

To Time the Time,

Time the Time….?

Is…..

A waste of Time.
Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley
6 months ago
Interesting to learn here about the meaning of the Latin term " carpe diem". Here in Lancashire UK, we often hear people using the expression this way; " What's he carping on about..".

To " carp on about" something is rather a derogatory term used commonly to describe somebody who is not only making the most of some moment, but is perhaps flogging that moment to death even.

But apart from that I think this article is really beautiful and I have learned a lot. In fact it reminds me of an old poem by Alexander Pope entitled " The dying Christian to his soul". Here it is;
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

VITAL spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, O quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.

Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?

The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav'n opens my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
judy claar
6 months ago
Deacon Keith: What a Time topic filled article! One paragraph giving way to yet another! And I thought my mind was full! Truly you surpass me, as you should. This article was most intriguing, as it held the fascination and mystery of time and our Catholic Faith within every fiber of composition. Thank you for this wonderful message as we await Christ the King! Blessings..
andrew
6 months ago
Simply put, an inspired article. I loved it. Jesus in between the Alpha and the Omega, the Governor as you put it. God who is out side of time is very much in it. On His evening walks, He calls us when He does not see us.
DLL
6 months ago
"Heaven and Earth may pass away but my words will never pass away"! Jesus says this as He is the word made flesh. To the people he was talking to the sky was as heaven and the earth they could feel under their feet in time,as they had to work it for it to produce their sustinence and maintain their earthly life. The sky was the air they breathed. The weather moved with the wind,they did know it's mysteries. God like the weather was mystery. Can time really end? Is all of creation to implode somehow? What if their was a planet where the residents of that planet listened to the word of God and kept it by living it faithfully? Only wicked planets with wicked residents know destruction,and even by their own fault because they chose to disobey God and His Holy Word. That end to earth would to us be the end of life as we have experienced it in time as sinners on earth. The good people on the good planet would still enjoy their "Garden of Eden" as they obeyed God and kept His Holy Word,because by doing so they pleased God. Maybe under those circumstances time could not be a factor for them because they did not need to be redeemed like the wicked and sinful earth people. Obedient people are perpetually prayerful people so the simply save all creation because they are in harmony with it as Christ was because of the fact that obedience to God is pure and total freedom. Love is complete harmony with God. Love is not subject to time because love like God is eternal. The 2nd coming of Christ,to be like Christ,all pleasing to God,all who keep God's word are free they do not need time to redeem them. Time,like death is the enemy to be done away with. Eternal life is Harmony with God,all are redeemed death and time itself has proven to be the illusion ultimately. Obedience to God is in itself the kingdom Of Christ. The last Days? That is the end of sin itself. Death and time are gone,all is in harmony and all is in reality,created to be in actuality,eternal. To be eternal is total and pure harmony with The Father,God,The Son Jesus. Obedience to God is key. The Holy Spirit is the source of Harmony where God is all in all. Disobedience to God under those circumstances would be unthinkable. We can only imagine the mystical end times as we are mere mortal sinners. What is theologically sound might be somewhat speculative. The Holy Catholic Church of Jesus Christ isthe foundation and a firm one planted on earth. it offers salvation. The message of the true Saints is that all must repent of sin. Sin is the nightmare. Sin is total darkness. The light of Faith in God dispels all of that darkness. The Holy Mother calls for all to repent. Evil is the end that we bring on all of ourselves through disobedience to God. The end of evil is the reality,not the end of Gods perpetual,creatively productive,eternal,goodness. As Jesus said:"Only God is GOOD!"
abey
6 months ago
Just as "Grace" is to law fulfilled, so is "Eternal" to time fulfilled, even though law & time are constraints but required to the fulfillments, for all that comes from God are to the essentials of life as God is Life, which Life is Love.

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