Ordering Your Life and Using Your Time

CHRIST. Take care, then, to do all that thou dost decently, and according to order. For one who knows that some great person is an observer, nay censor of his actions, is earnestly cautious of offending his sight by confusion and disorder in his conduct. How wilt thou act, then, in my presence, who see all that thou dost? First, arrange thy actions in due course, and also lay out for thyself, as far as possible, every hour of the day. Provide what is to be done in each, and do whatever thou dost at the time appointed.

Dost thou wonder at advice of this kind, as though it were too scrupulous and particular? Yet know that whatever is from God is regular. Knowst thou not how great a lover of order am I, who have created all things in due order, weight, and measure? But my enemy, Satan, is a hater of order and author of confusion, for his looks are ever directed to the place where dwells, not order, but everlasting horror. It is, therefore, merely his artifice, when thou art engaged in any holy occupation, to suggest to thee something else to be done and attended to, to distract thee from it. But, to elude him, abandon thyself to the one thing thou art about; cast away or set aside awhile the care of other matters. Do every thing at its proper time. Apply thyself to business as it arises. Matters of greater importance and necessity, those, for instance, which concern my glory and thy own salvation, doubtless require deservedly a due, and the better portion of thy time. Avoid the absurd conduct of many, who bestow the greatest attention on things of the least moment, and the least on those of the greatest. They spend the best part of their time in worldly business and the care of their person, and the worst they reserve for me. Oh, how wrongly they calculate! Hence is it that they are seized with shame; hence they are troubled, and reel like drunken men, and all their wisdom is swallowed up. But thou, do not so, but arrange thy conduct with piety and prudence, and seek first the kingdom of God and his justice; so shalt thou enjoy great tranquillity of soul. For order produces peace; it makes known what is to be done, and when; it restrains the flightiness of the thoughts; it advances and finishes every work that is begun; it banishes idleness; while the very recurrence of the time warns thee of thy duty, and every hour calls for its own employment.

MAN. Thy counsel, O Lord, is just and acceptable to me, but how can it be practised? Thou knowest, O Lord, how much time is often snatched from us, even against our will, by our employments, our affairs, visits, conversations of friends, and other necessities of this life. Thou seest too, O Jesus, that this corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and that our earthly habitation presses down the mind that muses upon many things.

CHRIST. This is what displeases me extremely, that there are so few who know the value of the time which I allow to men to do penance, to grow in my grace, and to gain glory in heaven. Behold the acceptable time passes away, never to be recalled, and none lays it to heart; the days of salvation glide by, and no one mourns that the occasions which he had of doing good are gone, never to return.

But thou, shun, as far as thou canst, those thieves of time, friends, conversations, and profitless engagements; and because the days are evil, redeem the time that should be given to thy better friends, to me, and to thy soul. Is that which I ask of thee a hard and troublesome thing? Look, how much time is given to the body, to food, sleep, recreation, conversation, entertainments, &c., and wilt thou not give so little to thy God, thy soul, and eternity? Oh, how prodigal are men of their time when it is for the service of vanity! how niggardly when it is to be devoted to piety, to which all of it justly is due!

Moreover, I advise thee, my son, not to have many occupations; for with various distractions, thou wilt not have strength for all. He that is less in action shall receive wisdom. ¹ For the bed of thy heart is very narrow, and the short coverlet cannot cover both. ² More than one of the wise, even of this world, have discovered that no one who is full of business can attain to soundness of judgment. And how wilt thou attain to true holiness, if overwhelmed with so many engagements? Look at men of business. Oh, if thou couldst look into their consciences, thou wouldst see how miserably they are torn, as though they were among thorns and briers; and how, amid so many cares and matters of business, the spirit is quenched by degrees, devotion dried up, and all relish for holy things gradually and insensibly destroyed. This is the way to hardness of heart, from thence to aversion, and finally to contempt and perdition. And what wonder! Strangers have devoured their strength, and they knew it not. ³

If thou wouldst be wise at others' cost (and this is true wisdom), take time to reflect that I am a God worthy to be adored by thee above all things. Where will be thy advantage, if, by neglecting me to be troubled about many things, thou gain the whole world, and with it the loss of thy soul? But be it that thou hast a vocation to labour, and canst not disengage thyself entirely from business, it is not my will for thee to neglect the duties of thy calling. Only try to be engaged in nothing but what is useful, honest, and necessary; so wilt thou find thyself rather failing the time, than the time thee. Or let thy soul at least turn oftener to its rest, and see to whom thou art most a debtor. Doubtless to the Lord, who, above all others, is thy benefactor.

Every day, therefore, go up at least once with Moses to the mountain, to converse with me. Withdraw a little from the crowd, and enter into thy chamber, and betake thyself, as it were, to a haven of rest after a storm; and when thou hast shut the door, speak to me in secret, and there, as in a desert, I will speak to thy heart what is for thy peace. Behold, even that pious heroine Judith had an oratory in the upper part of her house, which it was her daily custom to enter with her maids for the purpose of prayer. Thinkest thou that this was prejudicial to her plans and to her affairs? No, there was not a man so wise or successful,—none of the princes of the people brought to all that country so much aid and security as she.

Wouldst thou have a profitable exercise in this daily retreat? Such will readily occur to thee, when thou hast begun to be more intimate with me, and less engaged with men. See, then, pray and read. When thou prayest, thou speakest with me; when thou readest good books, I speak with thee: and what can be more noble, more profitable, or more pleasant to man?

MAN. Ah, that is little indeed which thou requirest of us, O Lord! True it is, that the whole of our lifetime is thine alone. For as there is not a moment but we enjoy thy blessings, so also there should be none that is wanting in thy recollection and praise. Oh, that I may do what thou hast taught me, that my whole day may pass as thou directest! Oh, that I may so attend to others, as never to forget thee; and make the love of thy glory, and of the heavenly Jerusalem, the foundation of all my joy!

1. Ecclus. xxxviii. 25.
2. Isai. xxviii. 20.
3. Osee vii. 9.