By Father Joseph Breighner
So the world didn’t end! If you’re reading my article, I bet you’re still alive.
What can we learn from all of this? Well, we learn that we humans like to scare ourselves to death. I can’t remember a time when someone, somewhere, wasn’t predicting the end of the world!
When will the world end? Nobody knows. When they asked Jesus that question, He said that he didn’t know. If Jesus didn’t know, you can bet no one does know – except, as Jesus said, the Father in heaven. Put simply, trust Jesus. Live in the now. Let somebody else worry about then.
What I would like to do, however, is to share a meditation on time that I wrote and published a long time ago. I’ve edited it ever so slightly. It’s titled simply: “There Was A Time.” It seems a fitting way to end one year and begin another,
“There was a time when there was no time,
When darkness reigned as king,
When a formless void was all that there was in the nothingness of eternity.
When it was night!
But over the void, and over the night, Love watched.
There was a time when time began.
It began when Love spoke.
Time began for light and life, for splendor and grandeur.
Time began for seas and mountains, for flowers and birds.
Time began for the valleys to ring with the songs of life,
and for the wilderness to echo with the wailing of wind and howling of animals.
And over the earth, Love watched.
There was a time when time began to be recorded.
A time when love breathed and a new creature came to life.
A new creature so special that it was made in the image and likeness of love –
Of Love who is God.
And so man and woman were born, and the dawn of a new day shone on the world.
And over man and woman, Love watched.
But there came a time when the new day faded.
A time when man and woman challenged the Creator,
A time when man and woman preferred death to life and darkness to light.
And so the new day settled into twilight.
And over the darkness, Love watched.
There was a time of waiting in the darkness.
A time when man and woman waited in the shadows,
And all creation groaned in sadness.
There was a waiting for Love to speak again – for Love to breathe again.
And kings and empires rose and faded in the shadows.
And Love waited and watched!
Finally, there came a time when Love spoke again.
A Word from eternity – a Word
Spoken to a girl who belonged to a people not known by the world
Spoken to a girl who belonged to a family not known by her people.
To a girl named Mary.
And so there came a time when Love breathed again,
When Love breathed new life into Mary’s yes.
And a new day dawned for the world.
A day when light returned to darkness, when life returned to dispel death.
And so a day came when Love became human – a mother bore a child.
And Love watched over Love – a Father watched his Son.
And, lastly, there came a time when you and I became a part of time.
Now is the time that you and I celebrate.
We celebrate what the world waited for.
And as we celebrate what was at one time, we become a part of that time.
A time when a new dawn and a new dream and a new creation began for humanity.
And, as a part of time, Love waits and Love watches over us!
Copyright (c) Dec. 28, 2012 CatholicReview.org