Suspended Time

Happy New Year to my reader(s)!

I've been off-line a while. Had a bit of trouble with my motorbike that's kept me busy...

Mass on St. Stephens Day (see earlier post) was glorious at the new St. John Neumann church. Ample doses of Temperance & Fortitude are required to keep from craning one's neck to look straight up to view the murals in the dome during the liturgy! Fr. Dowling noted the estimated 1,500 that attended the inaugural Christmas Eve Mass versus the 15 that came for the day after Christmas.


I also attended Mass on January 1 for the Octave of Christmas - the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God at a tiny parish of St. Joseph's in Washington, Georgia where the usual Sunday crowd is pretty close to 15. Always interesting there & I'll say no more.

Octaves are curious, and like so many aspects of the Church's liturgical life, completely antithetical to the world's understanding of time, its meaning, its value. You can bet that armies of Walmart employees across the country had the stores transformed from a Christmas to a Valentine's Day wonderland in just minutes after 6:00pm on Christmas Day. The Church, however, declared time suspended for 8 days, set aside to contemplate the Mystery of the Incarnation. A participation in the eternity of Heaven. That's why I love the Church so much, it runs so completely counter to the insanity of modern America.

The 5-hour drive out to my folks' place always yields ample opportunity for thinking. About the mass of humanity flying by all around me. Who are they? Where are they are going? Who are they visiting? It also allows me some time for inward thinking. Who am I? Where am I going? Who are the people I am visiting?

Then there's the odd metaphysical thought. In just the blink of an eye, I'll be back on the road heading home, just like all the other trips in the distant past for which I anxiously awaited. It's already as good as over. And in some way it is, in the sight of God's eternity.

Much like last year. Much as this year will be. It all belongs to God. Happy New Year!