Time can be like a goose that flies over your head. You have to get a throwing stick, hunker down and wait for it to fly by and knock it out of the air, then grab it by the neck and chop its head off, cut it open and pull out its guts, defeather and season it, put it on a spit and roast it slowly over a fire. You have to make it yours. If not, then it just flies past. Getting the goose implies more slowing down than gearing up.
I'm moved by things that are done deliberately as proof that we have the upper hand on time, and not time on us. I do not mean that we have unlimited time or that we have power over the amount of what time God gives to us; but that we are to see that God gives the time to us: that he doesn't give us over to time.
Time made for feasts and retreats - or as in some cultures, days given over for a marriage - are measures by which time is shown to be at our helm. Where we don't have the time is precisely where we are meant to chop off the goose's head. This is not to undermine priorities; but what if we don't meet our priorities well because we haven't seen to the more important priorities?
This is by way saying how much I like the idea of New York parishes having, on March 6 and 7, 24 hours of Confession. Creative Minority Report has the scoop here. I wish this could become a common thing in dioceses everywhere. Of course I also wish that parishes would have regular scheduled confession times longer than what they are and on more days than what they are.
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