“These trifles are the oil, the fuel we need to keep our flame alive and our light shining.” (Saint Josemaria, “Friends of God”, p.41).
We are well into Lent now. This annual period of mortification has been underway for some weeks, and during that time, I have been able to reflect on the purpose and meaning of my life.
Since time immemorial, the human being has contemplated their purpose in this world and in this life. For this life is fleeting. In Australia, we are very blessed with our health care systems and access to medication and as a result of this our average life span is 83.2 years. This is – of course – not to say that people in Australia do not live far less long than that, but it is to say that in general, we can live quite a long time if we are fortunate enough to live int his peaceful country…
And yet – even in 83.2 (or one hundred) years – life is short. This earthly life is actually incredibly short.
Just think about what we do during those first couple of decades of life. We grow. We educate ourselves and we grow and learn who we are and what we could contribute to the world. So it is not really until we are twenty years old that we are equipped to do much at all. Then we spend the next couple of decades of our life learning. Some of this learning is formal through tertiary studies and professional development, but much of it is the learning of experience. We spend that next period making mistakes repeatedly until we figure out better ways to approach things and ways that we can make fewer mistakes. And then the next couple of decades are spent slowing down. We get older, our bodies wear out, our children grow up, we retire, life winds down. And there we have it – eighty something years old and sitting right there on that average age of death for Australians…
And I have been thinking about that today. Saint Josemaria wrote in “Furrow” at 996, “When you look back on your life, which seems to have been marked by no great efforts or achievements, think how much time you have wasted, and how you can recover it with penance and greater self-giving.”
Saint Paul wrote, “I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully.” (Corinthians 7:29-31).
And it calls me to question myself using other words of Saint Josemaria in “Friends of God” at 39-41 where he said, “How are we so lacking in calm and serenity when it comes to fulfilling the duties of our state, and yet so unhurried as we indulge in our own whims? You might say these are trifling matters. You’re right, they are, but these trifles are the oil, the fuel we need to keep our flame alive and our light shining.”
And today, I pray for the Grace to ask for sanctification in a life of trifles…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.