When I was thirteen, my family visited Savannah for the first time. We attended Mass at the Cathedral, an annual Mass when those celebrating 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries are recognized by the Bishop.
I would love to say that this particular day was somehow significant for me; but it was not. We came for the Mass, had a family picture taken in the hall with Bishop Lessard, ate lunch at the Boar’s Head on River Street and drove back home to Augusta.
Whenever I recall this insignificant event, I usually ask myself this same question: “how did I get from there to here today?” How did I end up being a priest of our diocese, now assigned at the Cathedral, serving the diocese in various ways, including as the master of ceremonies for that very same wedding anniversary Mass I attended years ago?
The answer is actually remarkably simple: I got here a day at a time.
Think about it. Reflect about your own life. How did you get from point A to point B, to then today. You got here one day at a time. One moment, eclipsed by another moment. Second after second, minute after minute, hour after hour, time passed, decisions were made, and you are here today. We were all very different five, fifteen, twenty-five, forty or fifty years ago; but by God’s grace we have navigated through time, sometimes celebrating, sometimes grieving, and we have most recently made it to today.
At every Easter Vigil, when the Easter Candle is blessed outside the Church by the big fire, this prayer is said by the priest: “Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega, all time belongs to him, and all ages; to him be glory and power, through every age and forever.
All time belongs to Jesus Christ. The passage of time belongs to Jesus Christ. Recognizing today’s feast of Christ the King, we can say that Jesus is the King of Time. He has dominion over it, allotting it as he pleases.
The concept of time is hard to grasp: a clock is only an attempt by us to tame it. Time is always passing, always fleeting. The word NOW is constantly changing the moment that it describes.
Yet TIME is the greatest gift we receive from the King of the Universe. We speak of the past, or the future, but we always experience time in the Present Moment.
Think about it: we always live in the present moment. It is NOW that I make a decision. It is NOW that I chose. It is NOW that I think about something.
The present moment is where God intersects into our lives. It is in the present moment that God acts. It is in the present moment that we respond to God’s invitation to follow him. Our lives today are the result of a series of present moments; present moments when we have chosen to act one way or another.
The past is unchangeable. The future is unknown. Our own past can be a heavy burden on us, and the uncertainty of our future may terrify us: but we have the present moment. God is present NOW, at work NOW. What is he doing? Where is he leading you?
If I strive to be a faithful servant of the King in the present moment, I will reach my destination one moment at a time, and God willing, I will have made decisions that will lead me closer to the King.
Just as the King in one of Jesus’ parables gave talents to his servants and returned some time later to see what the servants had done with the talents, Jesus gives us a talent in the present moment. What will we do with it?
Do I waste it? Squander it? Do nothing? Or invest it? Use it for good? Do something with it in my life? What do I do with the grace of the present moment? What if I’m given something difficult to live or encounter? Still, what will I do with it?
The present moment is where God is at work in my soul and my heart.
The thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus took advantage of the present moment; he seized what Jesus was offering him at that particular time. He could have agonized over his past, or pondered his imminent death; but he was listening to Jesus at that very moment, and took what Jesus was offering at that very moment. The good thief, Dismas as it’s believed he was called, became the most successful thief because hanging from the cross, as Saint Augustine said, he stole heaven.
Christ the King reveals himself to us in the present moment. There we encounter Him and there we chose to follow. Don’t agonize over your past; don’t be anxious about your future: what is Jesus doing now? How is he calling you to respond?
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