Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

“Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end.” (Shakespeare, Sonnet 60)

Time, what a mystery! No matter how long we live, it remains so incomprehensible. Define it, measure it as we will, it eludes our understanding. Occasions like a death or an anniversary trigger our uncomprehending musing. A homecoming celebration, a reunion does the same.

The comments are inevitable. “It seems like yesterday that I was here. On the other hand, it seems so far away.” “So much has changed.” “So much has stayed the same.” “Where has all the time gone?” “It's hard to believe it's the second week in November.” “I'm embarrassed to think about when I last wrote. Time goes so fast. Little Susan is now over two years old, but it seems like she was born yesterday.”

“Where are the snows of yesteryear?” the poet Francois Villon wrote. “How fast time goes!” “I always meant to call her for lunch.” Thoughts about time are familiar, universal. What do we do about them?

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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