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In the
fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod
was
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of
Iturea
and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high
priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son
of
Zechariah in the desert. He went throughout the whole region of
the
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The singer known as
Enya speaks of how important the
concept of time is in her song “Only Time." She begins her
song: “Who can say where the road goes, where the day
flows—only time. And who can say if your
love grows as your heart chose—only time. Who can say why
your heart sighs as your love flies—only time. And who can
say why your heart cries when
your love lies—only time.” It is an ode
to time, a poetic statement about how time determines whether love is
real or
not.
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When
something is important, we often try to
pinpoint the time, as if to say, it is necessary that we remember when
this
happened because it is something that is of value. Such seems to be the
evangelist Luke’s
reasoning behind his dramatic beginning of John the Baptist’s and
Jesus’ public
ministry. It is almost like a solemn
proclamation that begins with "Hear ye, hear ye." Actually this Gospel
passage still does not
contain enough information to pinpoint when Jesus’ public
ministry began, and
there are some questions about some of the people he mentioned, but his
introduction says that in Luke the evangelist’s opinion, the
redemption of
humankind is of great value.
The proper understanding of time is one of the most important concepts that can be learned as we grow. Enya’s song “Only Time” spells it out for the concept of love, giving us arguably the most important concept that must govern people in love. In order to determine the romantic love of two people, we must give it the time that is necessary to determine whether it is real or not. Generalizing, we ask the question: what is of value to us today? Certainly our redemption is of value, and our gift of eternal life should lead us to thank God daily. Likewise the gift of being able to love another in a romantic way, and to live together with that person forever, generating a family, is of value, once again, leading us to being thankful. Today at this moment of time, what is of value to us? One way to determine it is to study how much time we spend on the different activities of our lives, realizing that the more time we spend on certain things, the more important they are. At the same time, we will understand that we should spend more time on certain things such as prayer or developing family unity and love or working on better relationships with others. Perhaps part of our goal in life must be to spend quality time on what is truly of value. |
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THOUGHT
As you consider the
world in which
you live right now, what is of most value? What should be of most
value?
PRAYER Good and gracious God, you have
given us time to accomplish wonderful things in this life. Thank you
for what you have given us, and
help us to use well the time that we have left here on earth, so as to
merit
your presence forever. Be with us, we
pray.
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©2007 Capuchin
Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |