448. Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

Meditations no. 396 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Life is short; we have to use it for loving.

As I talk to you, and we make conversation together with God, our Lord, I am simply voicing aloud my personal prayer. I like to remind myself of this very often. You for your part must also make an effort to nourish your own prayer within your souls, even in situations, such as the one we are in today, when we find ourselves having to deal with a topic which, at first sight, does not seem very conducive to a loving dialogue, which is what our conversation with God should aim to be. I say “at first sight” because, of course, everything that happens to us, everything that goes on around us, can and indeed should form a theme for our meditation.

I want to talk to you about time, that passes so swiftly. I am not going to repeat to you the well-known phrase about one year more being one year less… Nor am I going to suggest that you ask around what others think of the passage of time. If you were you to do so, you would probably hear something like, “Oh divine treasure of youth that slips away, never more to return…”, though I admit you may come across other views with a deeper and more supernatural content.

Nor is it my purpose to dwell nostalgically on the brevity of human life. For us Christians the fleetingness of our journey through life should instead be a spur to help us make better use of time. It should never be a motive for fearing our Lord, and much less for looking upon death as a disastrous and final end. It has been said in countless ways, some more poetical than others, that, by the grace and mercy of God, each year that ends is a step that takes us nearer to heaven, our final home.

St Paul uses these words to instil hope in the Thessalonians: But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. And Christ himself tells us: Be watchful and ready: for you know not when the Son of Man is coming.

We look forward eagerly to our definitive encounter with God in heaven, but we know that our beatitude will be in proportion to the love we have practised in this life. And since life is short, we need to strive constantly to grow in our love for God, by responding to the love he shows us.

In this life, my daughters and sons, one needs to love. A person unable or unwilling to love is a poor wretch who ends up trapped in selfishness, and only finds reasons to be bitter, touchy, worried, sad. When we encounter difficulties like these in our own life, often it’s because we’ve allowed our heart to contract. We haven’t given it entirely to our Lord, or we’ve wasted our time on earthly attachments.

To persevere fully and faithfully, we need to love. We love by giving ourselves; by guarding our heart for Him, by mortification, guarding our senses, fleeing the occasions of sin. We love by conquering our selfishness, by our unconditional availability and dedication to the task that the Work entrusts to us for the good of souls.

Good use of time, out of supernatural prudence.

Let us open the Gospel of St Matthew at chapter twenty-five. We read, The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who went to bring the bridegroom and his bride home, taking their lamps with them. Five of these were foolish, and five were wise. The Evangelist tells us that the wise virgins had made good use of their time. They had prudently gone and provided themselves with the necessary amount of oil, and were ready when they were told: “See, it’s time. Behold, the bridegroom is on his way; go out to meet him.” They turned up their lamps and went out joyfully to welcome him.

That day will come for us. It will be our last day, but we’re not afraid of it. Trusting firmly in God’s grace, we are ready from this very moment to be generous and courageous, and take loving care of little things: we are ready to go and meet our Lord, with our lamps brightly burning. For the feast of feasts awaits us in heaven. Dearly beloved brethren, it is we who are called to take part in the wedding feast of the Word, we who already have faith in the Church, who are nourished on Sacred Scripture, and who rejoice because the Church is united to God. Ask yourselves now, I pray you, whether you have come to the feast wearing your wedding garment: examine your thoughts attentively. I assure you, and I say the same to myself, that our wedding garment has to be woven with our love for God, a love we will have learnt to reap even in the most trivial things we do. It is precisely those in love who pay attention to details, even when they’re doing apparently unimportant things.

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’re 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 recognize you.” Either they didn’t know how to get ready properly, or they didn’t want to and thus 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.

We would be foolish to assume we had an indefinite amount of time for our interior struggle and apostolate. To do so would mean that our love was growing cold. If God were to call us, we would be caught short of time, like the foolish virgins. My children, our Founder wrote, sometimes we too are caught short of time, because we don’t look after the prayer, because we don’t prepare it well… You should consider: why don’t I prepare my classes well? Why do I sometimes arrive late at family gatherings? Why do I sometimes go to bed and get up at the wrong time? Why do I make a bad job of the work entrusted to me? Why do I give it up after beginning it enthusiastically? Why are there so many omissions in my work, so much disorder?… They’re little things, but all that is our oil.

Docility, piety to keep our love for God aflame.

It is full time now for you to wake from sleep, St Paul wrote. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us do everything possible to fill all the days and months and years of our life with love. Our Father’s words will help us: Be docile, let yourselves be led by grace, learn to treat our Lord more lovingly. I assure you that when I obey like this, I am filled with peace, since I’m more secure on the way, and know I’m doing not what I want, but what God desires.

If ever you find it hard to obey in spiritual direction, obey immediately. When I see a brother or sister of yours doing so, I’m very happy. My children who obey quickly, without complaining, for love of God, help me to have more presence of God.

So many good things depend on each of you, but especially on the older ones. People notice what you do and judge you. Their judgement will be favourable if you strive at every moment to work supernaturally, serenely, and temperately. Try always to act with an upright intention, with a clean heart wholly dedicated to God. Our heart must be crystal clean. Therefore it’s very important to allow the Directors to “polish” us, to rid us of every speck of dust, even those that are almost invisible to us.

When we are detached from everything, with our heart set on our Lord, docile and obedient to the Directors’ indications, we find time for everything. Any problem or difficulty that arises can be solved promptly, because if we ourselves don’t find the solution, hut really do allow ourselves to have demands made on us by those who have the mission to do so, then we receive light and criteria to react and make the most of the time.

As well as docility, we need to strive to stay close to our Lord at every moment. Love for God increases in the manner that human love does, a manner that is divine: by frequent contact. Go with yearning and impatience to look for Jesus Christ, as lovers, with the desire that, through our Blessed Lady - Mother of God and our Mother - there may come to you that overflowing of God’s grace, which is water springing up to life everlasting.

We have to squeeze all their divine meaning from our ordinary affairs, from what we do at each moment: Christ who works through us, Christ who relies on us, Christ who not only passes continually by our side, doing us good and giving us the opportunity, even in the midst of difficulties, to love him more and make him known, but who also remains in us and makes his abode in us, by the action of the Holy Spirit. We should be eager to make good use of all our time and not let even seconds escape us, to renew our dedication, and say to him, with our heart and deeds: “Jesus, I truly love you!”

Give its full value to every minute of your life. I would like you to realize that, although we are worth so little, if we are faithful, not even a sigh is lost. Everything yields its fruit, even though we may not deserve it, nor see it at times.

So, struggle, seek to conquer, be detached, and cheerful. Don’t leave Jesus alone in the Eucharist. And appeal to our Lady, and to our Father and Lord St Joseph, so that we may spend our life, down to our last moment on earth, giving praise, honour and glory to the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.