Episode 132 - Time is a Creature

A boy named Augustine asked Bishop Robert Barron how God was able to exist before time.  The question is common enough.  Individuals young and old ponder over it.  But his answer was simple.  Time is a creature, he said.  It is a created thing.  God is not bound by the laws of His own creation.  He exists outside of time, outside of those laws.  For the rest of us who very much do exist in time and are bound by its rules, the notion that the God of the universe exists outside of time remains a headscratcher.  We might be able to understand the concept intellectually but only in that way.  There is a lot of heart bound up in time – specifically the passing of it – so we must relegate that truth of God to the bin meant for questions that cannot be answered on this side of paradise.  It will remain a mystery as we lean more heavily into our faith.  But even so, does the recognition that time is a creature afford us any new perspective on life, any modicum of peace?  Time is our most precious commodity, yet it is time that corrupts.  Rust.  Dilapidation.  Wrinkles.  Aches and pains.  Growing old.  Time's relentless momentum.  Time as the pressure cooker to get us to do this or that.  Act now.  Seize chances.  Time wasted.  Times that cannot be recovered.  Nostalgia.  Looking back.  Cherished memories so precious they hurt.  What does it mean to worship a God who is above all of this?  What does it mean to pray for His will to be done in your life?  More to the point, if God is love, and love exists outside of time, does this mean that the love we have for others does not fade never mind death, the event that removes people from the laws of time?  Seeing time as a creature, for me at least, removes its fangs.  It is, like everything else, under God's dominion, and, therefore, we should not fear its manifestations.  Our lives are made up of seasons, and many of those seasons are beloved, yet we should be confident in the truth that the love we shared in those seasons does not end with change or separation or death because love itself is eternal.  God is eternal.  The Gospel of Matthew puts it best: "What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven."  In the time we have, we bind.  When we join God in heaven, those bounds will be secure.  The Book of Sirach puts it like this: What are mortals? What are they worth? What is good in them, and what is evil? The number of their days seems great if it reaches a hundred years.a Like a drop of water from the sea and a grain of sand, so are these few years among the days of eternity. That is why the Lord is patient with them and pours out his mercy on them. He sees and understands that their death is wretched, and so he forgives them all the more. Their compassion is for their neighbor, but the Lord’s compassion reaches all flesh, Reproving, admonishing, teaching, and turning them back, as a shepherd his flock.b Time is, indeed, a creature, but thank God we have a shepherd who guides each of His children through the years they are allotted toward incorruptible fields and a love only sampled in the land of clocks and deadlines.