Overview:

Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

“The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.” (Wis 3:1-9)

Find today’s readings here.

We all know the saying: “Time always wins in the end.”

No matter how fast we try to run from it, no matter how much we try to ignore it, time will take its toll on us. We’ll feel it in the aches and pains of our bodies. We’ll feel it in the loss of our loved ones. We’ll feel it, eventually, when God calls us to join him in heaven. It’s easy to come to the conclusion that time is our enemy, a thing that we must constantly watch out for.

Yet this mentality is not what God wants for us. Our lives may seem short, especially when taken in the context of the length and breadth of history, but they are nevertheless meaningful. The Christian life should be focused on using the time that is given to us to do as much good as we can in the world, not to focus on extending our mortal lives as much as possible.

I am reminded of a quote from the character Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise as played by the late thespian Patrick Stewart in “Star Trek”: 

“Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they’ll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived.”

Aging and death comes for us all. To worry about that is understandable, but we should use its certainty not to motivate our despair but to motivate our living.

Christ knew this better than anyone. He was a man who knew that he had a mission to fulfill on Earth and that at the end of that mission, he would have to face death. He was strong, but even he expressed fear in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet he accomplished wonders during his lifetime. He healed the sick and he ministered to the poor. He fought with the chief priests and the Roman authorities. But he also had family and friends that surrounded him and supported him. He had good times along with the hardships he suffered. He did not forget to live his life while he was hurtling toward the inevitable. We would do well to follow his example.

Kevin Christopher Robles is the studio production associate at America. He was previously an O'Hare Fellow and intern.