“Always remember the end, for lost time never returns” (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ).
It is not easy for us to put these wise words into practice, even though they would bring so much clarity to our lives. Sacred Scripture also exhorts us: “In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin” (Sir 7:36).
We could make a slight change in the emphasis of this phrase and apply it to our relationship with our Heavenly Father: let us do everything with our eyes fixed on Him, so that all our actions and efforts may please Him. In this context, the words of St. Paul also come to mind: ‘make the most of the time, because the days are evil.’ (cf. Eph 5:16).
Far from leading us to unhealthy activism, this phrase exhorts us to the utmost vigilance of love, knowing that we can cooperate with our Heavenly Father in the salvation of souls and that, for the sake of love, there is no time to lose.
Certainly, some of us recognise that, unfortunately, on many occasions we did not keep our goal in mind nor did we have our Father in view, and we deeply regret this, because the time we lost will never return. The more love acts in us, the more this will hurt us in our souls. Peter experienced the suffering of having denied Jesus, but later he had the opportunity to respond affirmatively to the Risen One’s threefold question about whether he loved Him, which can be seen as a kind of reparation before receiving the Lord’s mission.
And what can we do if we have wasted time?
We can ask the Lord for the grace to do everything with new fervour, so that we can make up for lost time by taking advantage of the opportunities He shows us. We can also ask Him to help us not to waste any more time, keeping our end in mind and our eyes fixed on Him.
Our Father will be very pleased if we turn to Him in this way. Perhaps He will invite us to practise interior prayer (prayer of the heart) frequently. If this becomes a spiritual habit, we will find it easier to think of Him always and not waste any more time.