rob thee of thy time by inviting thee to idle amusements

Meditation for Sept. 12th (pg. 291 - 294) on redeeming time:

IV. Consider fourthly, who these assassins are, from whom thou hast to redeem thy time for the future, so as not to lose it. They are the same who have so often robbed thee of it in the past—the men amongst whom thou art living. These may be divided generally into two classes, friends and enemies. The former very often try to rob thee of thy time by inviting thee to idle amusements; do thou redeem it, even at some cost, even by letting them think thee uncourteous. The latter try to rob thee of it by persecuting thee; they excite disputes about thee, they distrust and importune thee, almost endeavouring to compel thee to lose much time in defending thyself. Do thou redeem it from them also, even though it should be with some considerable loss of reputation or property. " Lose something," so was St. Augustine often wont to say, " so as to redeem time which thou mayest spend for God."1 This is what is meant by "redeeming the time." And how wise is the man who acts in this way ! Yet there are few who understand this; most men consider every other temporal good more valuable than time, whereas time is really more valuable than every other temporal good, because the eternal good may be purchased at last by a man of sound mind without anything else ; but without time it is impossible.