The Gift of our Time.

Homily for Tuesday 8^th January 2019)

_“And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.’ But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat’.” *(Mark 6:35-37)*_ 

Time is life. It is all we have. We are always careful with how we spend our time because we know how precious it is. In truth, you always have time for things that are important to you. Jesus would say “where your treasure is, there your heart would be” meaning, whatever you consider of value takes your attention. And whatever takes your attention takes your time.

As we continue to reflect on the visit of the Magi this week, we can see that one great gift that we can present to the newborn king is the gift of our time. In our Gospel passage this morning, we read about how a great throng of about five thousand men (not counting women and children) spent a whole day with Jesus in a deserted place.

These people left every other pressing concern behind, their jobs, their school, their pursuits, everything, they came to listen to Jesus. How many hours in a day do you consider long enough to dedicate to Jesus?

Time is a quality of love. When you love someone or something, you discover that you suddenly have time for that person or that time. When he or she calls, you are never too busy to answer and you do not mind spending hours chatting, talking or just enjoying the presence of each other. Is Jesus so unworthy of your love that you cannot afford to spend even one hour daily in prayer and meditation?

In today’s first reading, St. John defines what love truly means saying: “This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” (1^st John 4:10). God sent his son Jesus to spend time with humanity. He did so out of love for us. We too should show our love God by spending more time with Jesus.

In truth, no minute spent with Jesus is ever wasted. No one spends time in prayer and remains the same. There is also a great reward we get from Jesus when we give him the gift of our time. There is always an inner transformation that happens in our spirit when we spend time with Jesus. Beyond the inner transformation, we are blessed physically as well.

When Jesus saw how the five thousand families spent the whole day with them, He had compassion on them and with five loaves and two fish, He worked a great miracle that fed them all. “All ate and were satisfied.” (Mark 6:42).

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, as we offer our time to you daily, may we eat from you and be satisfied. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday after the Epiphany of Jesus. Bible Study: 1^st John 4:7-10, Psalm 72 and Mark 6:34-44).