Liturgy Me

I have spent some time in ordinary and extraordinary Mass ways lately. I have helped to serve and been served. I have seen a lot that you and others have seen, in a space of days, these days, these last several ones.

One gets in the habit of thinking, evaluating. Or one falls that way. I know judgment is fatal, at least to ordinary men, like myself, and now I am sure of it the way I am certain of my beating heart. The difference is that some day my heart will stop, but I will be no closer to passing true judgment.

Against the miracle of transubstantiation we place time in the commonly employed sense, and with time come thoughts and things. We lose the moment, or we lose our lose of self for the surety of considerations, both local and universal. An opinion is born. In the next moment, turned inward, we form to support our thought.

Off hand, I cannot recall the Lord saying, "This is what I think...." He says what God wills, and in doing so he does His will. But he pays close attention to the thoughts and words of others. Yes, I suppose the Christian should listen, and listen closely. And pray. And in doing these things, in doing the will of the Father, live well.

What is time in all this? It is suddenly clear to me that time has no meaning independent of the eternal in the instant. We say that for God the eternal is an instant. But until this moment I have not understood this point. But, like so much that is God, only this view really makes sense. If I were to take time at face value I would never escape the here and now, would I?

If I thought time meant anything, anything at all, except that it is the one pure moment of God, of Love, I would forever be comparing the Word with the world. I would wonder at deliverance. I would look for signs. I would care for realities as posed against truths. In short, I would live as I often have, and am tired of, so very tired of at this point in my life.

Breathe a breath and give life to a hypocrite. We cannot be pure, for now, but we can listen for the word of God, made manifest in any number of ways, and admit to ourselves those things that we otherwise would be loathe to grant ourselves. I mean relief, and peace, and joy - but especially peace.

I ask this question. If we are ready to grant that the angels and saints attend our every Mass, at any given moment, how can we stoop to believe that time is anything but this moment, now, realized in the perfect, suspended, quality of exact feeling, without doubt?

That time is this moment, forever, that it is faith itself seems as clear to me now as that the tree follows the seed as it gives way to dust.

This now is it. That eternal is now. This is the invitation to grace, to kindness, to love for the other, that knows no bounds. What boundaries would there be in the eternal now? What need have we of limitations? Our life is the invitation to that moment, this now, the eternal where we dwell, forever.

Mary, blessed Mother, pray for us.