The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

 Lectionary: 204

Children, it is the last hour; 
and just as you heard that the Antichrist was coming,
so now many Antichrists have appeared. 
Thus we know this is the last hour. 

The last day of the year invites us to reflect on the mystery of time. The philosopher and Father of the Church, Saint Augustine was fascinated and mystified by time. There are scientists today who try to explain it and come up short; some deny there is such a thing. It's only a human conception, an idea without foundation, they think. (...which may also be an idea without foundation.) 

We might not know time is real if the One God, whom we know as the Friend of Abraham and Father of Jesus, had not spoken to us in time, entered human history, and shepherded us through the last three millennia. 

But it's not hard, with an act of imagination, to step out of time and experience the wonder of eternity. We do that whenever we celebrate the Mass. As one nonagenarian patient in the  VA told me, "The Mass has never changed!" 

The Eucharist is an act of our God in the perichoresis, the indwelling "dance" of the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is an act of delight, love, and communion infinitely beyond human comprehension. But despite its unfathomable depths, there we are! We're in the middle of it, happily entwined like a child who stands amid the legs of Mom and Dad as they hug one another. 

Entering the Mass, we enter a timeless cathedral and join hands with the saints of the past, present, and future. We have no idea of how many they are; but we're sure that Saint John's "144,000," a number intended to be incomprehensible, has been surpassed a long time ago. It may be a chorus as numerous as Carl Sagan's "billions and billions!" 

And what year is it, anyway? Oh, never mind. It's so good to be here. 

And as we set off into a new year, we thank God for more time to get it right!