This is a rather nice opportunity to stop and rest as we enjoy. Things are pressurised now but we are being slowed down just as the spread of this virus is being slowed down. It means for us that we are part of something greater and time is something we have and can squander and lose. However, time is a gift to each and every one of us and we can all learn to appreciate it and recognise the freedom it can give us.
Prayer God our Father and Mother,
you are the Maker of everything that exists,
the Author of the world of nature
and of all living things,
the Creator of both space and time.
Without you there would be no past,
present or future;
no summer or winter,
spring or autumn,
seedtime or harvest;
no morning or evening,
months or years.
Because you give us the gift of time
we have the opportunity
to think and to act,
to plan and to pray,
to give and to receive,
to create and to relate,
to work and to rest,
to strive and to play,
to love and to worship.
Too often we forget
and fail to appreciate your generosity:
we take time for granted
and fail to thank you for it,
we view it as a commodity
and ruthlessly exploit it,
we cram it too full or waste it,
learn too little from the past
or mortgage it off in advance,
we refuse to give priority
to those people and things
which should have chief claim upon our time.
Help us to view time more as you view it,
and to use it more as you intend:
to distinguish between what is central
and what is peripheral,
between what is merely pressing
and what is really important,
between what is our responsibility
and what can be left to others,
between what is appropriate now
and what will be more relevant later.
Amen
