A Season and a Time

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven," begins our first reading at Mass today (Eccl 3:1-11). I never tire of hearing this. Every season and time is valid and meaningful for me because every moment is God's gift to me. Indeed, as Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade writes in his timeless classic Abandonment to Divine Providence, "every moment reveals God to us," and that is enough for me. "There is never a moment when God does not come forward in the guise of some suffering or some duty," de Caussade goes on to say, "and all that takes place within us, around us and through us both includes and hides his activity." The time to be born reveals the Lord in His nativity; the time to die, His passion and death. The time to mourn draws us to Golgotha; the time to laugh, the empty tomb. The time to be silent leads us on the way of the Cross; the time to speak, on the road to Emmaus. "What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us," de Caussade explains, adding that "At every moment we should exclaim: 'It is the Lord!'" (Jn 21:7)

Dear Lord, thank you for putting the timeless into my heart so that I may long for You alone, the Eternal God. Whatever the seasons and times of this day, let me rejoice and be glad for You will be there, making everything beautiful as only You can. Amen.