During the life of Abraham Lincoln, as he was getting ready to run for political office, his wife saw a double image of him in the mirror. She simply said, you will experience great success and then great tragedy. Your life is only a question of time. For each one of us, life is a question of time. When you look at the Lord's prayer, Jesus Christ made it very clear when he said, Give us this day our daily bread. In effect he was telling us to give us the strength and grace we need for today to carry out the burden of every day living. When you look at the old Baltimore catechism that so many of us were taught, you might recall that it said, we were put on this earth to love God, to serve God and to be happy with Him in the next. Those goals could not be any clearer. When you read the life of Christ, He gave us suggestions as to how we can fulfill our goals. He told us, whenever there was anyone who was hungry and we fed them, whenever there was anyone who was thirsty and we gave them to drink, whenever there was someone in trouble or in jail and we helped them, we were serving God and using our time wisely on this earth. When you break this concept of time down, God gives to each one of us 1440 minutes per day. To me it is a sheer waste when I see so many people worrying over things from the past and getting so anxiety ridden concerning the future. There was a great line written many years ago that said, yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is reality. Christ also reminded us of the importance of each day when He said, sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. In other words, we have enough problems to cope with on a daily basis, do not bring problems from the past or the future into today's living. AA tells us better than anyone else to live one day at a time.

When you think of the shortness of life and we have all been hearing this theme of how life is so short, we cannot waste time. It is a precious gift. In the old testament we are taught there is a time to be born there is a time to die and in between while we are on this earth, we should take the 24 hours that God gives to each one of us and bring that charity and that compassion that Jesus Christ brought into the lives of others while He walked the streets of this earth. We are so grateful to God when you look around at how many people are trying to use the time God has given them to help those in want and need. When you look at the Catholic Church for 2000 years that have had dedicated priests, nuns and lay people who have gone to the ends of the world bringing the gospel of Christ to those who would never have heard that same gospel. When you think of the thousands and thousands of mothers and fathers who have used their time to bring forth good families and without any acknowledgment or recognition these are some of the uncanonized saints of our day who have used their time profitably. Concerning time, it is a simple philosophy to follow. If there is anyone whom you know in need of forgiveness, offer them forgiveness now. If there is anyone whom you know in need of your charity or compassion, offer it now. Every day is filled with opportunities to use those 24 hours, that precious gift of time, to make the lives of others better. You have that within your character and your personality. You bring Christ to others when you use your time profitably.