Now Is the Time
December 26, 2006 6:00 am
It’s a time of transition. Regardless of your religious beliefs, everything in North American culture seems to lead up to December 25, and nothing new seems to start until January 1. No matter what we do this week — be it post-prandial cleaning, list making, flitting between social engagements, fighting traffic at the mall, or catching up on sleep — perhaps it’s a good time to reflect on things outside the material realm.
“Behold, now is a very acceptable time.” (2 Corinthians 6:2a)
Instead of trying to determine which events of the past 12 months were life-altering, perhaps it’s more useful to look at the current moment in depth. How are my relations with family and friends? Where am I in my journey of faith? What brings me joy? With what am I disappointed? What do I desire?
Those of us in the religion business call such a reflection a “consciousness examen,” but I prefer Jesuit Dennis Hamm’s term: “rummaging through” your mind. It’s similar to when I put away the decorations and the presents each year — I never know what I’ll find in the back of the drawers, and I never know where my reflections will lead me.
“Behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2b)
Whatever we find, may we be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and respond appropriately, with gratitude and thanksgiving, with a resolve to do better in the future, or with some combination of the two.
Rich Andre, CSP
Paulist seminarian