As you know, I begin every homily with a question. Today’s question is a very easy one, even if not everyone will agree with the answer. My question is this: What time is it? Yes, what time is it; right now? It’s OK for you to look at your watch. My watch says it’s 9:16. But you might not agree; I’m usually about two or three minutes fast. But let’s say it is 9:16. That answer applies only if you live in Houston … not if you live in either New York City or Los Angles. That’s the strange thing about time. It’s all relevant to a frame of reference.
Have you ever considered time, itself, is really a human invention. Time is needed only by human beings. Plants and animals don’t need to measure time. They can get along well without minutes and hours. So why do we need “time” anyway? What does time really measure?
Well, for one thing – time measures “change.” We humans observe that everything in the world changes; nothing stays the same. If there were no changes, there would be no need for anything called “time.” Which is why God doesn’t require “time,” why God is “timeless,” why God is “eternal,” existing outside of time. The reasoning for God being eternal or timeless, goes something like this.
We believe God is “perfect.” If God is, indeed, “perfect,” God cannot improve and become better, because if God were able to become better, then God would not have been perfect and therefore would not have been God in the first place. And so God cannot change, cannot get either better or worse. And since God cannot change, God exists with no reference to time. And so we say God was, is and will be – all at the same time. The Israelites called God, Yahweh: I am who am, the changeless God, the timeless God, the God who exists forever.
But Adam and Eve, and all the rest of us, know that things do change; that each one of us human beings is born, grows up, and dies. We see plants sprout from the earth and then die each year. And if we look carefully enough, and long enough, we even see that rocks can erode away because of rain and wind. We recognize the whole earth and everything on it will change. And so, we ask: When will it all end? When will the time come when there is no more change; when there is no more earth; when there is no more “time?” When does “time” end and eternity begin?
The followers of Jesus asked that question. And Jesus said to them: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
Today, we once more begin a new liturgical year. And here on the first Sunday of Advent, we again focus on “eschatology,” the end times, and the “Parousia, the Second Coming, the return of Christ. Although we do this each and every year, these words, for some people, take on a greater sense of urgency depending upon circumstances in their current world. For some, this occurred two decades ago when we began a new millennium. Throughout the ages people have been superstitious about years with certain numbers. The year thirteen hundred was one of them. Only it was not then 1300 A.D., but rather thirteen-hundred years after the founding of the City of Rome.
As you know, the calendar we use today is based upon the year thought be the one when Christ was born. Before the change was made, the calendar was based upon the year in which the City of Rome was founded, which was 753 years before the birth of Christ. The change from the old to the new calendar occurred in the middle of the Sixth Century after the birth of Christ. So, by changing the calendar, the year 1300 after the founding of the City of Rome, became 547 A.D. and disaster was avoided.
What happened when 1300 A.D. came around? Well, rather than changing to a new calendar, the pope, who was Boniface VIII, blessed the year 1300 A.D. and declared it to be a Jubilee Year, the first such year ever declared by a pope. Throughout the centuries, other popes have declared other years to be “Jubilee Years.” Back in 2000 A.D., Pope John Paul II declared it to be the Year of Jubilee of the Holy Spirit. However, even without a formal declaration for a Jubilee Year of the Holy Spirit, we can still begin a consideration of the time of Advent as being a time for the Holy Spirit.
Every Advent season is, of course, a time for waiting. In fact, it is a time for double waiting … our waiting for the celebration of the incarnation of Christ, the time when our God took on human flesh in order to lead us back to him, and the time of our Second Waiting, our second Advent, the time of waiting for the return of Jesus the Christ. Just what are we to do with this time of waiting?
Are we to “invest” our time, as if it were a commodity like money left by the master to his servants? But no matter how hard we might try to invest our time; we cannot add one moment to it. Are we to “save” time as we are urged to do by all of the labor-saving devises we see advertised on tv or social media? I don’t know about you, but the more time I try to save, the less time I seem to have to do those things I really want to do.
Or am I to use God’s gift of time wisely? Am I to recognize that I cannot really do anything about the time which has passed, nor can I do much about the time that is to come? I cannot change the past; I cannot control the future. Unlike God who exists equally in the past, present and future, all I have available is God’s gift of the ever present, ever holy “now.” What I need to do is recognize, and cherish, this gift of the “nowness” of my life.
Now, today, this day, is the time for me to relax and smell the roses. Yes, today is the day to recognize the gifts God has given me. To do nothing but thank Him. However, it is also the day for me the share with others these gifts He has given me. Today is the day for improving relationships with friends and relatives; not to be chained by what has happened in the past; not to be put off by anticipated difficulties of tomorrow.
Right now is the time for me to do whatever I can in order for me to be closer to God. Now is the time to put aside thoughts of – “I should have done this” or “I ought to do that” and instead, actually begin to do it. I need to remember that time is more than the invention of human beings but rather it is God’s gift of the here and now. Now is the time, the moment, for the Coming of Christ into my life. Now is the time, the moment, to realize that the Reign of God has begun. Now is the time, the moment, to journey with the Spirit of Jesus towards God the Father.
And so it is that I ask you once more: What time is it? And if you look at the time piece on your wrist for an answer, you are looking in the wrong direction. Instead, I would urge you to look into your heart, for there you will find not a time piece but rather God’s peace for your time. Indeed, may the Peace of God be with you now and forever.
First Sunday of Advent: November 30, 1997
Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-42; Luke 21:25-28; 34-36