«Fili, conserva tempus» — "Son, guard your time" (Sir. 4:23).
Point I
Son, says the Holy Spirit, be careful to preserve your time, which is the most precious thing and the greatest gift that God can give to a living man. Even the pagans knew the value of time. Seneca said that no price can equal the value of time: «Nullum temporis pretium» — "No price matches the value of time." But the Saints, with a clearer light, have known the value of time. St. Bernardine of Siena said that a moment of time is worth as much as God, because in every moment man can, by an act of contrition or of love, gain for himself the divine grace of God and eternal glory: «Modico tempore potest homo lucrari gratiam, et gloriam. Tempus tantum valet, quantum Deus, quippe in tempore bene consumto comparatur Deus» — "In a short time man can gain grace and glory. Time is worth as much as God, since in time well spent God is gained" (St. Bernardine, Serm. Fer. IV, post Dom. I. Quadr. c. 4).
Time is a treasure found only in this life; it is not found in the next, neither in hell nor in heaven. In hell, this is the weeping of the damned: «O si daretur hora!» — "Oh, if only an hour were given!" They would pay any price for one hour of time in which they could remedy their ruin; but this hour they will never have. In heaven there is no weeping; but if the blessed could weep, this alone would be their grief — having lost time in this life, in which they could have gained greater glory, a time they can no longer have. A deceased Benedictine nun appeared in glory to a certain person and told her that she was perfectly content; but if she could have desired anything at all, it would be only to return to life and to suffer in order to merit more glory; and she said she would be content to suffer the painful illness she had endured at death until the day of judgment, in order to gain the glory corresponding to the merit of a single «Ave Maria» — "Hail Mary."
And you, my brother, on what do you spend your time? Why do you always put off until tomorrow what you could do today? Reflect that past time already gone is no longer yours; the future is not in your power: only the present time is yours for doing good. «Quid de futuro miser praesumis (ne avverte S. Bernardo), tanquam Pater tempora in tua posuerit potestate?» — "Why do you, wretched man, presume upon the future (as St. Bernard warns), as though the Father had placed the times in your power?" (Serm. 38 de Part.). And St. Augustine says: «Diem tenes, qui horam non tenes?» — "Do you hold the day, who do not hold the hour?" How can you promise yourself the day of tomorrow, if you do not know whether even another hour of life remains to you? Therefore St. Teresa concludes: if today you are not ready to die, fear lest you die badly.
Affections and Prayers
O my God, I thank You for the time You give me to remedy the disorders of my past life. If I had to die at this very moment, one of my greatest sorrows would be the thought of time lost. Ah, my Lord, You gave me time to love You, and I have spent it offending You! I deserved that You should send me to hell from the very first moment I turned my back on You; but You called me to penance and forgave me. I promised You never to offend You again, but how many times have I returned to insult You — and again You forgave me! Blessed forever be Your mercy. Were it not infinite, how could it have borne with me so! Who could ever have had the patience with me that You have shown me? How sorry I am to have offended so good a God! My dear Savior, the patience alone that You have had with me should make me fall in love with You. Ah, do not permit me to live any longer ungrateful for the love You have shown me. Detach me from everything, and draw me wholly to Your love. No, my God, I do not want to waste any more of the time You give me to repair the evil done; I want to spend it all in serving You and loving You. Give me strength; give me holy perseverance. I love You, O infinite Goodness, and I hope to love You for eternity.
I thank You, O Mary: You have been my Advocate in obtaining for me this time of life; assist me now, and grant that I may spend it all in loving Your Son, my Redeemer, and You, my Queen and Mother.
Point II
There is nothing more precious than time, but there is nothing less valued and more despised by the men of the world. This is what St. Bernard laments: «Nihil pretiosius tempore, sed nihil vilius aestimatur» — "Nothing is more precious than time, yet nothing is valued more cheaply" (Serm. ad Schol.). And he goes on to say: «Transeunt dies salutis, et nemo recogitat sibi perire diem, et nunquam rediturum» — "The days of salvation pass by, and no one reflects that a day is perishing for him, never to return." You will see that gambler spending days and nights wasting time at games; if you ask him, "What are you doing?" he answers, "We are passing the time." You will see that other vagabond lingering for whole hours in the middle of a street, watching who passes by, or speaking obscenely or about useless things; if you ask him, "What are you doing?" he answers, "I am passing the time." Poor blind men, who lose so many days — days that never return!
O despised time, you will be the thing most desired by worldlings at the time of death! They will then desire another year, another month, another day, but they will not have it; they will then hear it said to them: «Tempus non erit amplius» — "Time shall be no more." How much would each of them then pay for another week, another day of time, to better settle the accounts of his conscience? Even to obtain a single hour of time, says St. Lawrence Justinian, such a man would give all his goods: «Erogaret opes, honores, delicias pro una horula» — "He would lavish riches, honors, and pleasures for one little hour" (De Vita Sol. cap. 10). But this hour will not be given him: "Quickly," the assisting priest will tell him, "quickly depart from this earth; there is no more time": «Proficiscere, anima christiana, de hoc mundo» — "Depart, Christian soul, from this world."
Therefore the prophet exhorts us to remember God and to procure for ourselves the grace of God before the light fails: «Memento creatoris tui, antequam tenebrescat sol, et lumen» — "Remember your Creator before the sun and the light are darkened" (Eccl. 12:1). What anguish it is for a traveler who realizes he has taken the wrong road when night has already fallen and there is no more time to remedy it! Such will be the anguish at death of one who has lived many years in the world but has not spent them for God: «Venit nox, in qua nemo potest operari» — "The night comes, in which no one can work" (John 9:4). Then death will be for him a time of night, in which he can do nothing more. «Vocavit adversum me tempus» — "He has summoned a time against me" (Lam. 1:15). His conscience will then remind him how much time he has had, and that he spent it to the ruin of his soul; how many calls, how many graces he received from God to become a saint, and he refused to avail himself of them; and then he will see the way of doing any good closed to him. Wherefore he will say, weeping: Oh, what a fool I have been! Oh, time lost! Oh, my life lost! Oh, years lost, in which I could have become a saint; but I did not, and now there is no more time to do it. But what use will these laments and sighs be, when the scene is about to end, the lamp is about to be extinguished, and the dying man is drawing near to that great moment on which eternity depends?
Affections and Prayers
Ah, my Jesus, You have spent Your whole life to save my soul; there was not a moment of Your life in which You did not offer Yourself for me to the Eternal Father to obtain for me pardon and eternal salvation. And I have been so many years in the world — how many of them have I spent for You until now? Ah, all that I remember having done fills me with remorse of conscience. The evil has been great; the good has been too little, and all of it full of imperfections, of lukewarmness, of self-love, and of distractions. Ah, my Redeemer, it has all been so because I forgot all that You have done for me. I forgot You, but You did not forget me; You came after me while I was fleeing from You, and so many times You called me to Your love. Here I am, my Jesus; I will resist no longer — or do I wish to wait until You abandon me completely? I repent, O Supreme Good, of having separated myself from You by sin. I love You, infinite Goodness, worthy of infinite love. Ah, do not permit me to waste any more of this time that You give me in Your mercy. Ah, always remind me, my beloved Savior, of the love You have borne me and of the pains You have suffered for me. Make me forget everything, so that in this life that remains to me I may think only of loving You and giving You pleasure. I love You, my Jesus, my love, my all. I promise You, whenever I remember, to make acts of love to You. Give me holy perseverance. I place all my trust in the merits of Your blood.
And I trust in Your intercession, O my dear Mother Mary.
Point III
«Ambulate dum lucem habetis» — "Walk while you have the light" (John 12:35). We must walk in the way of the Lord during life, now that we have the light, for afterward it is lost in death. Then it is not the time to prepare oneself, but to find oneself already prepared. «Estote parati» — "Be ready." In death nothing can be done; then what is done is done. O God, if someone received the news that shortly the case of his life, or of all his possessions, was to be tried, how he would hasten to obtain a good lawyer, to make the officials understand the grounds of his claims, and to find means of winning their favor! And what do we do? We know for certain that shortly — and it may be at any hour — the case of the greatest affair we have is to be tried, which is the affair of eternal salvation, and we lose time?
Someone will say: But I am young; later I will give myself to God. But know (I reply) that the Lord cursed the fig tree that He found without fruit, although it was not the season for fruit, as the Gospel notes: «Non enim erat tempus ficorum» — "For it was not the season for figs" (Mark 11:13). By this Jesus Christ wished to signify to us that man, at every season — even in youth — must bear the fruit of good works; otherwise he will be cursed and will bear fruit no more in the future. «Iam non amplius in aeternum ex te fructum quispiam manducet» — "Let no one ever eat fruit from you again." So said the Redeemer to that tree, and so He curses whoever is called by Him and resists. A remarkable thing! The devil considers the whole span of our life to be but little time, and therefore he does not lose a moment in tempting us: «Descendit diabolus ad vos habens iram magnam, sciens quod modicum tempus habet» — "The devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time" (Rev. 12:12). So the enemy loses no time in seeking to ruin us — and shall we lose time when it is a matter of saving ourselves?
Another will say: "But what harm am I doing?" O God, and is it not harm to lose time in games and in useless conversations that do no good to the soul? Does God perhaps give you this time so that you may waste it? No, says the Holy Spirit: «Non te praetereat particula boni diei» — "Let not even a particle of a good day pass you by" (Sir. ch. 4). Those laborers of whom St. Matthew writes were doing no harm, but were only wasting time; and for this they were reproved by the master of the vineyard: «Quid hic statis tota die otiosi?» — "Why do you stand here idle all day?" (Matt. ch. 20). On the day of judgment Jesus Christ will demand of us an account of every idle word. All time that is not spent for God is time lost: «Omne tempus, quo de Deo non cogitasti, cogita te perdidisse» — "All the time in which you have not thought of God, consider that you have lost" (St. Bernard, Coll. I, ch. 8). Therefore the Lord exhorts us: «Quodcunque facere potest manus tua, instanter operare, quia nec opus, nec ratio erunt apud inferos, quo tu properas» — "Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly, for there shall be neither work nor reason in hell, where you are hastening" (Eccles. 9:10). The Venerable Mother Sister Joan of the Most Holy Trinity, a Teresian nun, used to say that in the life of the saints there is no "tomorrow": "tomorrow" belongs to the life of sinners, who are always saying, "later, later"; and so they arrive at death. «Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile» — "Behold, now is the acceptable time" (2 Cor. 6:2). «Hodie si vocem eius audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra» — "Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94:8). Today God calls you to do good; do it today, for tomorrow it may be that there is no more time, or that God calls you no more.
And if in the past, to your misfortune, you have spent your time in offending God, strive to weep over it during the life that remains to you, as King Hezekiah resolved to do: «Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos in amaritudine animae meae» — "I will recount to You all my years in the bitterness of my soul" (Isa. 38:15). God gives you life so that you may now repair the time that has been lost. «Redimentes tempus, quoniam dies mali sunt» — "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16). St. Anselm comments: «Tempus redimes, si quae facere neglexisti, facias» — "You will redeem the time if you do the things you have neglected to do." Of St. Paul, St. Jerome says that although he was the last of the Apostles, he was the first in merit because of what he did after he was called: «Paulus novissimus in ordine, prior in meritis, quia plus in omnibus laboravit» — "Paul, the last in order, was the first in merit, because he labored more than all." If nothing else, let us reflect that in every moment we can make greater acquisitions of eternal goods. If you were allowed to acquire as much land as you could walk around in a day, or as much money as you could count in a day, what haste would you not make? And you can acquire eternal treasures in every moment — and you wish to lose time? What you can do today, do not say that you can do tomorrow, because this "today" will be lost for you and will never return. St. Francis Borgia, when others spoke of worldly matters, would turn to God with holy affections, so that when he was then asked for his opinion, he did not know how to answer; for this he was reproved, but he said: «Malo rudis vocari, quam temporis iacturam pati» — "I would rather be thought dull of wit than suffer the loss of time."
Affections and Prayers
No, my God, I do not wish to lose any more of this time that You give me in Your mercy. At this hour I ought to be in hell, weeping without fruit. I thank You for having preserved me in life; in the days that remain to me, then, I wish to live for You alone. If I were now in hell, I would weep — but in despair and without fruit. I wish to weep over the offenses I have committed against You, and in weeping I know for certain that You forgive me, for the prophet assures me of it: «Plorans nequaquam plorabis miserans miserabitur tui» — "Weeping, you shall weep no more; having mercy, He will have mercy on you" (Isa. 30:19). If I were in hell, I could no longer love You; but now I love You, and I hope to love You always. If I were in hell, I could no longer ask You for graces; but now I hear You say to me: «Petite, et accipietis» — "Ask, and you shall receive." Since, then, I am still in time to ask You for graces, two graces I ask of You, O God of my soul: give me perseverance in Your grace, and give me Your love; and then do with me whatever You please. Grant that in all the moments of life that remain to me I may always commend myself to You, my Jesus, saying: Lord, help me; Lord, have pity on me; keep me from offending You any more; make me love You.
Mary Most Holy, my Mother, obtain for me the grace of always commending myself to God and of asking Him for perseverance and His holy love.