The sense of time

THIS topic was occasioned by Pope Benedict’s review of the past year, where he referred to the scarcity of time that we seem to be suffering today. This was when he talked about the family and the care children need.

Let’s quote him:
“A child needs loving attention. This means that we must give children some of our time, the time of our life.

“But precisely this ‘raw material’ of life -- time -- seems to be ever scarcer. The time we have available barely suffices for our own lives; how could we surrender it, give it to someone else?

“To have time and to give time—this is for us a very concrete way to learn
to give oneself, to lose oneself in order to find oneself.”

How true! Giving time is one concrete form of loving. And how difficult it
is getting for us to give time to others! How we use time could indicate whether we are truly loving God and others, or we are just spoiling ourselves.

We have to understand that time is one of our very precious natural resources, an endowment given to us by God, a gift which we have to manage very well, because it has a sublime purpose.

Time is not only a measure of duration nor a record of events. It is a sacred thing that links us with God and with everybody else, whatever our circumstances may be. It is the space, ever-flowing and non-recoverable, for us to live out life’s drama and purpose.

This, I believe, is the substance of what we call our sense of time!

One peculiar quality of time is that by the way we use it, we can either create it or kill it, multiply it or reduce it, make it fruitful or waste it, keep it to ourselves or give it to others, stretch it or shrink it, etc.

In other words, despite its linear sequencing, it is capable of being a matrix, giving out a rich array of possibilities to us. Again, depending on how we use it.

How we use time reflects the kind of priorities we have. It may also reflect the kind of pressures we are subjected to. But in the end, it shows how our will and heart, our sense of freedom and love work, what we hold most dear.

It is for this reason that the need to examine ourselves on how we use our time comes to the fore. This exercise will show what kind of love we are pursuing, how we understand freedom, what we consider our ultimate good, etc.

Examining the way we use our time will show if we are progressing, standing still or retrogressing in our quest for maturity and authentic fulfillment, if we are systematically developing virtues or falling into the rut of obsessions and compulsions that can give the illusion we are filling up our time with things.

It will surface the motives behind our choices and decisions, behind the way we resolve conflicts and competing values. It will expose our faith or the lack of it, and whether we are already falling into lukewarmness, idleness, laziness, or revving ourselves again to life and action because of love and hope.

In short, how we use time will reveal to us the topography of our heart and the kind of person we are. Are we really God-and-others-oriented, or are we merely and shamelessly self-oriented?

It will give us a running picture of how we are, because we are such a complex creature such that even if there are constant and permanent elements in our being, our true identity and dignity also depend on the continuing movements of our heart and will.

We have ups and downs, good moments and bad. These are not due only to our own personal strengths and weaknesses. We are in the world and we unavoidably get involved in the affairs of others.

We can’t help but use our time grappling and playing with these factors. Examining how we use time is a truly serious business.