As we approach the end of another year, perhaps we have become more aware of the passage of time.   This awareness may pop up in the midst of rushing around, going to the post office, shopping, and then it's buried. I get stopped in my tracks when I sit down to meditate, and remember, after some initial struggles, the wonder of the present moment. At these stilled moments, the so-called passage of timer is not vaguely dreadful, rather, it is a delight like no other.

I'd like to share some passages from reading I have been doing from the works of Thomas Merton. The idea of taking time to experience, to savor, to let life fully come to itself in us, was a key idea in Thomas Merton's reflections on spiritual practice.

"If we really want prayer, we'll have to give it time.   We must slow down to a human tempo and we'll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what's going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves.  But for this we have to experience time in a new way. "

"The reason why we don't take time is a feeling that we have to keep moving.  This is a real sickness. Today time is commodity, and for each one of us time is mortgaged.   We experience time as unlimited indebtedness.   We are sharecroppers of time.   We are threatened by a chain reaction:   overwork–over stimulation–overcompensation–overkill. "

"We must approach the whole idea of time in a new way.   We are free to love.  And you must get free from all imaginary claims.   We live in the fullness of time.   Every moment is God's own good time, his kairos.   The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek.   We don't have to rush after it.   It is there all the time, and if we give it time it will make itself known to us."

The present moment delights us. It is the only opportunity for grace and mystery. In the words of Mary Margaret Funk, O.S.B.,

"When we're on this path we prefer to be hidden and ordinary since anonymity helps us replace self with faith. There is freedom and low stress here as we learn only to do what is inspired by the impulse of grace: no more, no less. All ambitions are ruled off the agenda."