Sunday Musings

                                               7/31/2022

    Dear W.H.R.

    (Whoever Happens to be Reading)

    Praised be Jesus Christ!

    Well, dear friend, July has come to an end and the eve of August falls upon us. It seems to me that with every new year, the hand makes its way around the clock just a little faster than before. Time dragged on for me when I was little, especially in October, or December, at the end of which are graced with holidays. But now I can’t quite keep a firm hold of it. It sounds somewhat depressing, but perhaps a little treasure is hidden there.

    Doesn’t it go to show how short our lives are? How we so easily get caught up in the transient…All around us, there are living and active reminders of-what I like to put in the simplest term-our nothingness. Many of these reminders aren’t even sublime in any sort of way. The sun rises to set; objects that were once grand mold, decay, and fall to pieces; the youth grows old; a book ends; a job, worked so hard at, is accomplished only to be replaced by a new one; the hand on the clock strikes with every moment that is lost. There is always an end, and yet it leaves us dissatisfied and empty. We yearn for more. We go to bed in anticipation for a better day than the previous; whatever we have is never enough, so we have to get something new; we complain about old age, long for the youth we once possessed; stories never fail to demand a sequel; work is done only in correspondence with its reward and often lacks the supreme motives of love and charity; we wonder where time has gone…

    So I am left to question myself: what would my day-no, what would my life look like, if I set my gaze on Eternity and entrusted my hope to Heaven. There will be a day when the clock strikes no longer, when corruption will decay and when age will cease to leave its mark. What glorious days those will be, when our sole occupation will be to love, praise, and worship our God, through the Beatific Vision!

    By putting the hope of this blessed promise before our eyes, by allowing it to light our paths, it sheds much meaning into our otherwise monotonous lives on earth. If we see each passing moment as an opportunity of preparation, every day could serve as a means of fitting us for the treasures which Christ has made our inheritance. We can find in our Lord a perfect example of how to go about our days of exile. It baffles me to think that our God, beyond all time and space, clothed Himself in our weak human nature, and sent His beloved Son to redeem us. All for our sake, the weak human creatures that He made and loves so infinitely! If all else fails, this I think will pose a strong motive for putting on the mindset of eternity. For it would be ungrateful to acknowledge this and then reject His offer of a place at the Eternal Banquet. Therefore, each new day that prepares us for the moment when He calls us to our place at His table, we should also spend in gratitude. 

    Ah! The lens of eternity…I think it would make all of life's troubles more bearable; all of life’s pleasures would be revealed as what they are-empty; suffering would become sweet and sweetness become suffering; my desires would be put in place, my complaints diminished, and I’d be more disposed to charity towards neighbor. But then enters that persistent enemy that is our fallen nature, that defies the Good Will that I try to follow. It is a hard task, battling sinful inclinations, but it is a fight that needs to be fought. 

    I think that is enough. Perhaps I will pick up where I left off in my next letter, but for the time being, I don’t wish to ramble on and bore you. I believe my original intent was to see that July fared you well and bid you a pleasant August. 

And so, a pleasant August to you!