By Fr. Armand de Malleray, Catholic Exchange, May 4, 2022
Fr. Armand de Malleray, FSSP, a popular presenter and retreat master, is rector of St. Mary’s Shrine in the Archdiocese of Liverpool (UK). He is the author of the Art for Souls series and the editor of Dowry, the UK magazine of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. His lectures on the Holy Eucharist were broadcast on LiveMass.
Years ago, I used to offer Mass (according to the traditional Roman Missal) for Mother Teresa’s Sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, in London. When visiting the sick in India, those Sisters would evaluate distances neither in metric nor in imperial measurements, but in Ave Marias. One can imagine an instruction to a new Sister: “You will have time to pop in at poor Mrs Aaradhka’s, as she lives only three decades from the convent.”
We, in turn, may ask ourselves: What frame of reference do we apply to our lives? If, according to Aristotle, “time is the measure of motion” (i.e., a change of any sort, including qualitative), then what rhythm do we choose to measure the pace of our existence? Several are offered us. Under difficult economic circumstances, many people plan from one monthly paycheck to the next, as long as one does not lose his job, please God. Or, on a lighter note: from one football game to the next; or from the winter sales to the summer sales. Or, on a shorter basis, from one Saturday-evening entertainment at one’s favorite pub to the next. …
