New Year’s Resolution: Sanctify Your Time

The concept of sanctification of time is nothing new, and it is an idea that is found not only in Christianity but also within other religions.

In the Jewish faith it is an important concept. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Judaism is a religion of time, aiming at the sanctification of time.” 

For Christians, the sanctification of time takes on a new meaning because we believe God not only created time, but also entered time. In a General Audience in 1997, Blessed John Paul II said that “with Jesus eternity has entered time.”

A common understanding of sanctifying time is to set apart time in our day for God. For Christians, particularly because God entered time, we believe it is possible to give our time in a radical way to God.

Unfortunately, most Christians have a very limited idea of sanctified time. An hour or two on Sunday is usually the most we feel we need to give to God.  Conveniences have multiplied so we have more “free time,” but we quickly fill it up with more conveniences, entertainment, work and technologies. As a result, we give less and less time to God.

We are a culture of “no time.”

When I first entered the convent, one of the sisters shared with me her philosophy on time: “I do not consider my time to be my own any more. My time belongs to God.”

Theoretically, this is a pleasant enough concept. Put into practice, this is not for the faint of heart. 

To live from the notion that our time belongs to God is to not only set aside time for prayer, but to consider all of our time as belonging to Him.

What does this mean practically?

1. Live in Conversation with God

We do not have to spend 24 hours a day in a church to give our time to God. Instead, He simply asks that we constantly refocus our attention on Him, in even the smallest details of our life. God is interested! We do not have to be scrupulous; God rarely gives clear signs for every move we are to make. But simply acknowledging His presence allows us to act with Him, rather than on our own. As Brother Lawrence wrote in his classic, The Practice of the Presence of God: “I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak better, a habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God.”

2. Frequent the Sacraments

It is the sacraments that increase sanctifying grace in our soul. Sanctifying grace is like the glue between us and God. The more we take advantage of the great gift of the sacraments, the more we are united with God dwelling within us through our baptism. The more united we are to God, the more God can work through us, sanctifying all we do and say. 

3. Accept Unscheduled Surprises with Joy

This is perhaps the most difficult for me as I like to organize my time and I do not like surprises. But, as my superior often reminds me, it is Jesus who acts through the unscheduled moments in our lives. When we are asked to help with something, or we have to do something unexpected, it is often Jesus who is asking us to set aside our plans and ideas and follow His plan for the day.

4. Get in Touch with the Timeless

The Book of Ecclesiastes has a beautiful verse about time: “[God] has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts” (Eccl 3:11). We are creatures bound to time, and often we forge extra manacles of schedule to bind us. But God has made us with a thirst for eternity. This is one of the most important things that separates humans from the rest of the animal world. We understand forever. If we live with our eyes on forever, with our hearts connected to God, who is outside of time, but inside of our souls through baptism, we can live a life that is not a slave to time.

My prayers are with you in the New Year. May we all grow closer to God, until all of our time is lived in union with Him. Please pray for this intention for me as well!