We are living in a frenetic age. We find it difficult to stop ourselves because of the work load and the bad habits acquired; activism, anxiety and nervousness devour us. When theoretically we would have time to take a break to reflect, to pray…. but perhaps we are not capable to do that. The fact is that in the given conditions of modern life, we lose a lot time in our movements from one place to another, particularly in big cities. But sometimes, more than the physical time, we lack social time; let us think of the time spent in watching television, surfing the internet, talking on the cell phone unnecessarily, etc. Perhaps we need time management, plans, desire to give the best of ourselves and living intensively each moment of our life.
Claret, a tireless worker by nature, fallen in love with Christ and fully committed to the evangelizing mission, was a wisely balanced person between the rhythm of an amazing work and a generous dedication to prayer which led him to a meaningful life. When he accepted the office of the royal confessor, one of the conditions he placed to the Queen was not letting him waste time; apart from hearing the confession of the Queen and teaching catechism to the Princess, he made use of the rest of the time “for his sacred ministry”. The Queen too accepted his conditions; but his stay in Madrid made him to feel as if imprisoned “in a cage”. That´s why the summer travels of the Royal Family were very much a great relief for him because he made use of these opportunities to quench his thirst for preaching the gospel. In his travel to Santander, which he speaks of in this letter, he preached a homily during a long stop for the train in one of the stations, namely, seeing enough people on the platform, he preached to them from the window of the train!!!
Won´t it be useful or rather necessary for us to examine how often and sincerely we make use or waste our time; how we save or lose our time; how much time we spend for prayer, apostolate and charitable works?