Mar 12 Wed
Do I need to make good use of my time?
Our Lord has called us to work in his vineyard.
“God, in his mercy, calls each one bearing in mind their personal circumstances, because he wants all men to be saved. In our case, we were born Christians, brought up in the faith, and then we received a clear calling from our Lord. These facts are undeniable. Therefore, when you sense he's beckoning you, even if it is at the last hour, how can you think of lingering in the marketplace, basking in the sun as so many of those workers did, because they had time on their hands?”
“St Paul says to the faithful of Ephesus, renew the world in the spirit of Jesus Christ, place Christ at the summit and at the heart of all things. We have come to sanctify all noble human tasks –ordinary human work– right in the middle of the world, in a lay and secular way, as a service to the Holy Church, the Roman Pontiff and all souls.”
Our Lord is issuing a constant invitation to us to work. “For us, work is what gives worth to our lives; and it is a duty imposed by our Creator, since man was created to work. Work is a means by which mankind shares in the work of creation. Thus, it is not only noble, whatever it is, but it is an instrument for attaining earthly perfection and supernatural perfection.
Furthermore, work is a bond of union with other people and a means of contributing to the progress of mankind. It is the source of means to support one's family; it is an occasion of self-improvement; it is –and this needs to be stated very clearly– a means and a way to holiness, something to be sanctified and which sanctifies.”
We need to make good use of time. Some were called at first light to work in the vineyard; others when the day was well advanced. “You, my daughter, my son, when do feel you have been called? At the eleventh hour? Are you like those workers in the public square, sunning themselves because they had time to kill?”
St. Josemaría warns us: Don't succumb to that disease of character whose symptoms are inconstancy in everything, thoughtlessness in action, and speech scatter-brained ideas: superficiality, in short.
Mark this well: unless you react in time — not tomorrow: now! — that superficiality which each day leads you to form those empty plans (plans 'so full of emptiness') will make your life a dead and useless puppet.
Time is short for all we have to do; our Lord nevertheless expects us to make good use of the years he grants us. The days of our lives are part of the "talents" we have received from God, and we have no idea how long they will last. To use St Augustine's phrase: ‘God has never promised tomorrow to anybody.’
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