Today is the Day (Lent 4)

One of the greatest evils that many a good and virtuous men and women easily fall prey to is procrastination. With all good intentions, these men and women begin to postpone the good work they have thought of and planned for. But by the time they get into action, much of the efficacy of the action is lost, and the work remains just a meaningless action. We have also heard about jurisprudence, that justice delayed is justice denied. We love to wait for opportune moments to embark upon our ambitious plans and projects, and quite often we are surprised to note that the delay often costs us a lot.

We human beings care notoriously known for delaying good actions, and that is why it is said that we should do good works at the very moment we conceive them. There are things which cannot be waited. We should use our conscience to get going, and the season of lent is a reminder which tells us, we cannot wait for too long. The story of Doctor Faustus (based on the medieval play by Christopher Marlowe) is a bitter reminder for all of us to realize that if we wait too long, we would lose the battle; even our bitter appeals to the devil for a minute, or a few seconds would be in vain.

In the Old Testament, we hear God giving ultimatum to the people of Israel to return to him; the people of Nineveh had 40 days to repent and return to the Lord; but if the people were to wait for 35 days to get over and they would do the needful on the last five days, it might be too late for them. But in our case, we do not know how many days we have been given; who knows before our conversion, our time may run late. And hence the urgency that the season of Lent comes with is real and we cannot take it lightly. Today is the favorable time, says prophet Joel, and are we listening to him?

Lent is a season which calls for concrete action; we cannot write pages after pages of resolutions which we would consider putting into practice after the Lent. However noble a resolution be, if it cannot be put into concrete action, then in vain is it. After listening to the cries of our neighbors with empathy, we are called to plunge into action immediately, and here each one will have to estimate what he/she is called to, without comparing one with the other. This action alone can lift the brother and sister who is steeped in pain and sorrow and provide the much needed solace and comfort.

Lent is not a season of high and noble ideals, but is a season of concrete action, where the body, mind and spirit jointly embark upon acts which can benefit humanity at large. When my action and sincere efforts are targeted at my neighbor with utmost empathy can bring down the blessings of God and of the whole of creation. It is also an invitation to live in the eternal present, in com-union with the God of Now, because it is only in the present moment that we can truly encounter God! The action can proceed only when we have listened to the cries of our brothers and sisters with hearts, with empathetic sentiments! This action will again take us to deeper listening and the cycle will go on endlessly, taking us into deeper realization of God's presence in our midst!

Flowing with Time

At first I couldn't understand what she was saying; it took me a minute or two to really understand. She had been on the move in the city doing a lot of purchase all through the day, and was quite tired at the end of the day. But she was determined to finish the accounts before she went to bed. It might take a couple of hours for her to tally the figures, but would go to sleep only after seeing it through. At first she said, who knows if I will be alive tomorrow morning or not! If I don't, then it would create a lot of problem for others, she said laughing. Planning to do the accounts on the next day morning cannot amount to procrastination, but there was something beautiful in what she said later.

Why should I unnecessarily postpone the things that I can finish today, because tomorrow would come with its own share of toils and troubles. If I don't finish the troubles of this day, then the next day I will have to complete the works of the previous day, and may be forced to put off the day's work to the next day. In the process, the workload may keep accumulating, and there may come a time when it is beyond my capacity to wind up with all my responsibilities, and then may start the blame-game.

This is an ancient wisdom, which states, let me not postpone the things which I can do today. The secret power of the "now" is intrinsically embedded in this notion of going with the flow of the current, so that I am not stuck with unnecessary worries. But sadly, it is not at all easy for us to flow with our share of duties, commitments and responsibilities. It is because, the time that is at our disposal may seem like an endless ocean. We imagine that we are going to live for ever and ever. There is a simple way how we can train our minds to flow with the current of the day.

Let me take a sheet of paper, and write on the top, My Life Span! I will write the figure that comes to my mind, as the number of years I will live in this world. It may be 75 or 84 or even 96. Don't think too much, just put the number that first pops up in your mind. This is just a subjective figure for us to work on our life-cycle. Now let me deduct my present age. That means, I have still so many years to live. Does the years look too long, too many? Now multiply the number of years by 365; this gives the number of days I will live. If the remaining years of my life is 52, then I have 52 x 365 days to live. Let me further convert the days into hours: 52 x 365 x 24. It is here I begin to see the value of each passing hour. I may realize then that I cannot afford to waste even a single hour.

Today I would like to pause for a while and look at this day, from the moment when I first opened my eyes from sleep; it will benefit me, if I were to make a log of what I had done, minute by minute. I may be surprised to note that I had whiled away a lot of time, and have even wasted. Fortunately I don't need to pay for the time I spend, and therefore do not realize the cost of it all. If I were to do this exercise at the end of the day, then I may be able to realize that I had waste more than a few hours in useless things. Anything that is not helping me live a fuller life can be counted as a waste of time. If I do this exercise for a few days continuously, then probably I may become more conscious of the preciousness of the present, and may use it judiciously. It is then I may realize that my life span has doubled or tripled already!