Pity Time

There is no pacing here. There is time failing to consider the objects of its failure. Time, failing to opt. Time gadding about, flicking its necktie at the ankles of nubile passers-by.

I don't think much of time. Not much, and not much about it. Not before I joined the Catholic church and not since. I do not care for (or think about) subjects where the thinking will do no one any good. I mean, billions have died in Christ. What have I to say or do about time? Billions more may die, I among them.

This is time, that does not even occur so much as attend to the occurrences of others. Time cannot claim even the potential of a bridesmaid, as time will never amount to anything.

We all know this. And so, we pity time.

We hold the hand of time. We pay attention to time as one respects traffic, tides, one's hunger, bills, etc. I do not disrespect time, but I can accord it only the attention it deserves. I do not marvel at time, which is without personhood, or agency. Many there are who fear time, I know, or who count it, obsessively.

I wonder why?

I wonder, when one of the central tenets of Christianity (and a contested one, to be sure) revolves around time. This is the end of the world, referred to here and there in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, particularly in Revelations. It's funny to me, when the message of the Lord comes through so loud and clear.

He is coming.

We will not know when.

So, be alert for his coming.

So much for the grandiose authority of time. The authority that people grant time, through fear of it, that time simply does not merit.

I have written elsewhere that one of my favorite parts of the Nicene Creed is the conclusion, where we aver that we "look forward to the resurrection, and the life of the world to come." Which is to say, again, so much for time. Let the world end today - it's fine with me (and about 1.2 billion Catholics). Or, let it whirl away another 2 billion years. It's all the same to me. The end is the same, the end to which I am dedicated, and which has been promised. Eternal life.

And, what does that mean? Well, let's just say I "look forward" to finding out.