With yesterday, the devil can draw you into dwelling on your past. He can get you to think of the people who have hurt you in the past, he can cause you deep regret over your past misdeeds, he can make you think that since you wandered far from God in your past, you'll never find God again.
Satan loves yesterday, but he also loves tomorrow, because he causes people to think that the important changes they need to make in their lives can be made tomorrow, the sins they need to repent of can be repented of tomorrow, the people they need to help can be helped tomorrow.
If the devil can get us to focus on yesterday and tomorrow, that will keep them from following Jesus today.
I tell this little tale because each of our readings this weekend have to do with how we use the time we have been given: each of the scriptures contain references to “time”. Jonah is to announce to the Ninevites that they have a short time in order to repent and convert from their wickedness. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians that their time is running out. And our Blessed Lord's very first words in the Gospel of Mark, his inaugural address is about Time, “This is the time of fulfillment...repent and believe in the Gospel.” There is a sense of urgency in our readings.During Ordinary Time, the Church reflects upon how we use the ordinary moments of our day—how we are to reflect the virtues and love of Jesus in the ordinary events and circumstances and times of our lives.
Based on the story, it seems that the devil likes to tell us lies about our relationship to time. He likes when we are stuck in the past, focusing on past sins, past hurts. He likes to keep family members focused on actions from the past, that we should focus on sins of the past.
The devil urges us to keep mental lists of the ways people hurt us in the past. Sadly, I think spouses do this sometimes. Very unhealthy, get rid of those lists. If your spouse did something foolish or selfish in the past, have an adult conversation with them if it really felt like a betrayal. If there is an ongoing addiction or something, that's different. Help your spouse get the help they need. But past misdeeds, like forgetting a birthday, or doing something embarrassing in public, shouldn't be used as ammunition to one-up someone in an argument.
So the devil likes to tell us lies about the past, but he also tells us lies about the future. Since the devil particularly hates the time that we give to God, one very common lie is that “you are too busy to pray, you don't have time to pray.” He does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying...he gets us to think about the groceries that need to be purchased, the lunches that need to be made for the kids, the home-improvement projects that you've been putting off for three years.
One of the devil's great victories on his campaign against prayer, is getting people overly attached, even addicted to their iDevices. Many people do have less and less time to pray because they are overly consumed with social media and video games. There certainly is less time in the day when you spend an hour checking your Facebook feed and the pictures of cats on Instagram.
The devil does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying...but Jesus teaches us the opposite. In the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus implores his disciples, “Rise and pray, that you should not enter into temptation.”
Another lie the Devil tells us about the future is that we have plenty of time to repent of our sins. He might tell us that our sins aren't that serious, that we don't need to go to confession, that we can get ourselves right with God some other time. He’ll tell a lie like, “You are too busy to go to confession.”
Jesus, in fact, teaches the opposite, “you know neither the day nor the hour” he says, that you will face your judgment, so repent now, go to confession now. If we are guilty of a serious sin, we have an obligation to go to confession as soon as possible. Back in the 1960s the famous rock band, the Rolling Stones, recorded the hit song, “Time is on my side, yes it is” Well, I think Jesus and St. Paul would certainly say, “no, it’s not.”
Another lie that the Devil tells us about time, and this is a big one, one that keeps us locked in very selfish modes of thinking and acting. The lie he gets us to tell ourselves is that “My time belongs to me.” He makes us feel that it is a grievous burden when people make demands on our time, that I'm to use my time in whatever way I want, “thank you very much”.
We heard St. Paul tell the Romans last week that their bodies, through baptism, become temples of the holy spirit. Our bodies as Christians do not belong to us; and by extension that means our time doesn't belong to us. We are given time by God to become as holy as we possibly can, to fulfill God's will to the best of the ability, to order our lives according to his wisdom and his Holy will. But Christians, our time does not belong to us. We're on the clock, we're on the job, and what we do with our time, determines how we will spend our eternity.
After announcing that the time of fulfillment is at hand, that we are to repent of our sins, what does our Lord do in the Gospel today? He puts the apostles to work. To be a member of the Church, whether you are 3 or 93, a priest, widow, married person, or child, means to use the time we have been given for the work of the Gospel, catching souls for Christ.
We accomplish this primarily through our good example: they shall know they are Christians by our love, as the old spiritual goes, and by generously sharing with others the stories and lessons and truths of our faith.
Our profession, our hobbies, our leisure activities, all of these things are secondary to our primary work of using our time for God's purposes not our own, working out our salvation by overcoming our sinful tendencies and helping others to do the same, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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