turns away thy thoughts from that which is really important

Meditation for July 10th:

II. Consider secondly, that even though no harm were to come to thee by the acquisition of those posts which thou spendest thy life in striving after, there would still be harm in seeking after them. And the reason is, that this seeking after them turns away thy thoughts from that which is really important, that is, the business of thy eternal salvation; and how many doubts are there about that business ! Thou art ignorant what things most tend to ensure it, " what is profitable" for thee; and consequently, thy one only study should be concerning a matter so important. This is the point on which all thy anxiety, all thy thoughts, all thy words, all thy desires ought to be centred, while, on the contrary, by seeking after things in the world which are difficult of attainment, such as lofty position, thou necessarily must neglect what is important for what is unimportant. Is it not better to devote to the good of thy soul the pains and anxiety which thou didst so eagerly devote to things of this world? "What needeth a man to seek those things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage ? " A traveller does not waste his time on the road in useless employments; he concerns himself only with his object, which is to get safe to his country. This is what he thinks of, speaks of, inquires after; he does not trouble himself at all about other things. On the journey he is contented with an ordinary lodging, ordinary clothing, ordinary food, with attendance even less than ordinary; and why? because there is no time to lose, he is a traveller. And thou, too, art a traveller on earth, thou knowest this, and thy country is Heaven. Spend thy time then in learning what it is important to learn, what is the surest way of reaching it. As to the rest: " What needeth a man to seek those things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life ?" If he did know " what is profitable," that is, what is profitable for the attainment of everlasting salvation, then, indeed, there would be less harm in employing his time in other things; but as he does not know it, he should take pains to learn it. This only is important: " But one thing is necessary."1

And this is why the Wise Man does not say, " What advantage is it for a man to seek those things that are above him," but "what needeth a man to seek" them? Because he takes for granted that a man has no business on earth but that which is necessary, namely, to work out his everlasting salvation.

III. Consider thirdly, that besides all this, there is the additional consideration that the time is short, for it is not a question of ages, but merely of days, which make up the sum of thy life. How, then, canst thou waste it in seeking after anything but that which ought to be sought for ? In a besieged city men buy water, because it is scarce, at a high price: so too is it with corn in a time of famine, hay in a time of drought, iron in time of scarcity; and all goods, in the same way, however common, rise to a high price if they are scarce. How is it, then, that time alone does not rise in value with thee, when it is, in itself, so precious?
...

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.

don't let time waste like water

The Manna of the Soul Meditations for Each Day of the Year By Paolo Segneri: ""

desultory and unimportant actions or conversation

The Apostle, writing to his favourite disciple, Timothy, instructs him that " piety with sufficiency is great gain. Because they who would become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil ;" (1 Tim. vi. 9) whereby we see what a grievous obstacle the rich have in being open to dangers and temptations more numerous and various, and at the same time more powerful, than those whom Providence has placed in an inferior rank. Their temptations are more varied and more numerous, because they may be said to live in a state of habitual exposure to their attacks. First, their occupations are few, and their leisure long, and it is a leisure procured by the interruption of amusements and pastimes, which leave the mind relaxed, unarmed, unnerved. Languor, listlessness, and empty-mindedness, are the privileged habits of the rich alone. Hours and hours of their time are to be spent while recovering from the fatigue of past pleasures, or anxiously awaiting the hour of fresh dissipation; employment, occupation is to be sought, only in desultory and unimportant actions or conversation, and in throwing the mind open to every trifle that chooses to claim its attention ; or, what is worse still, in indulging the vain, unprofitable current of thought which flows spontaneously through it, in pursuing the wandering and bewildered mazes through which their wayward fancy leads them, or in colouring up to a false and bewitching glare the picture which their hopes paint in the air before them. In this manner, for want of sufficient food, the mind's energies are forced to act, and feed, upon its very stuff and substance. Instead of being like" the strong man armed, who keepeth his court, so that those things which he possesseth are in peace," (Luke, xi. 21) all is disorderly, unguarded, unsuspicious. Every thought that passes is gladly harboured, every vain desire that enters is indiscriminately received ; for " as a city," says Solomon, " that lieth open, and is not compassed with walls, so is a man who ruleth not over his own spirit." (Prov. xxv. 28.)

Sermon of Cd. Wiseman

Of the good Use of Time

Of the good Use of Time

by Fr. Jean Croiset, S.J.

FIRST POINT. That Time is very precious.

SECOND POINT. That the Loss of Time can never be repaired.



FIRST POINT.

Consider that nothing is so precious as time, every moment is worth an eternity; that the glory of the saints, the eternal joys of Heaven, which Christ has purchased for us by his blood, are the reward of the good use we make of our time.

Time is so precious, that the smallest part of it is worth more than all the honours and riches in the world; and though we employ but one moment to get all those honours and riches, if that be all we gain by it, God, who judges righteously, will look upon that moment as lost. If a damned soul were master of all the kingdoms of the earth, he would give them all and all its treasures, for one of those precious minutes which he formerly spent in folly, and which we lose every day.

Comprehend if you can what grace the possession of God is; this grace, this God, are the price of our time, which is given us only to obtain more grace, and by its assistance to merit the enjoyment of God; and it is certain that by every moment we spend for anything else, we lose more than the whole world can repay.

The saints in heaven, by reiterated, perfect acts of virtue to eternity, cannot merit a greater degree of glory; yet this I can merit every moment if I will, by one true act of love to God: Reprobates will not be able to satisfy the Divine Justice, not to obtain the pardon of one sin, by all their regrets and tears, nor by an eternity of dreadful sufferings; but I may do it every moment by one sigh, or one tear; by one act of contrition I may appease the wrath of God.

Eternal happiness or misery will be the consequence of my use or abuse of time; I can work out my salvation only while time lasts; how then can men be so much at a loss how to employ their time? How can they amuse themselves, and be taken up with trifles, only to pass away the time? You do not know how to spend the time. Have you never offended God? Are you not obliged to him? Have you received no favours from Him? Ought not you to adore and serve him? The glorious saints do not think eternity too long to love, to praise, to bless and honour him, and shall we think an hour or a day too long?

You don't know what to do; have you no sins to grieve for? Don't you know that Jesus Christ is in person on the altar, where he expects to be adored, and is adored but by few? And can you want employment for your time? We are never at a loss how to spend our time, but when we have most time to serve and love God: For we can spend whole days in business and vain pleasures, in offending God, and destroying our souls, without being uneasy, or thinking the time long.

Let us consider that we can secure our salvation only while time lasts, and that all the time of our lives is given us only for this end; how careful ought we then to be of improving it? Every moment is precious; we lose all if we lose our time.

But do we much value this loss? Do we think that there is such a thing as the loss of time? We improve every moment some things of no consequence, we are cast down at disappointments, and with all our care and diligence we are continually afraid that we shall want time.

But alas! A time will come when we shall think otherwise, because we shall have juster thoughts; a time will come when we would give all the world to recall some of those precious moment which we now throw away, and willfully lose; when we shall be torn with despair to find that they are all lost, and that time is past.

Then will you cry out, Oh! That I were now in the condition I was in such a day of my life, when I was meditating upon the improvement of my time: Oh! That I had now the same health and strength, my God, what would I not do? But wretched that I am, I foresaw this despair, which torments me now, for having lost my time, why did I make no use of that foresight nor of that time.

Time is short, it ends with our lives we have already passed the greatest part of them, and to what purpose? What use have I made of this last year? How much time have I lost in doing what ought not, or in omitting what I ought to have done? And how little of it have I spent in doing my duty? My God, what a terrible account have I to give of my time, and of these present reflections?

How can I expect mercy from God, if I make no better use of what is left, if I defer my conversion any longer? How many are dead who were in better health than I some months ago? How many seem now in their full vigour who will be in the grave before the year is past? And how do I know that I shall not be one of them?

Let us then work while we have time; we cannot expect it should be long, and therefore let us not defer our conversion one moment.

SECOND POINT

Consider that you can never repair the loss of time; that all you can do will never recall one moment; and if you be capable of reflection, and be seriously desirous of salvation, this will be sufficient to convince you of the importance of redeeming time.

It is certain that all the moments of our lives are counted; let us employ them well or ill, we shall not increase their number, for it is fixed, and lessens continually. An hour ago we had so much more time to work out our salvation, an hour hence we shall have so much less.

Though we live holily after the example of St. Paul, and do not lose one moment of what is left, yet it is most certain that a moment once gone will return no more; and that if it be employ ill 'tis lost. If we employ the rest of our time well, we may escape the dangers into which our abuse of the past has brought us, but we cannot undo what we have done; we have still lost so many precious hours, and with them all the graces which God would have bestowed on us and all the good we might have done in them.

My God, what a loss is this? So many moments lost since we had first the use of reason, and with them so many graces beyond recovery.

When we spend hours and days in vanity, we call it passing the time, a phrase very unfit for a Christian's mouth: We pass away the time, time itself passes away; the time so passed is lost, and neither it, nor the graces we could have merited in it, will return any more.

The grace of predestination is in some manner annexed to some certain moments; what will become of us if God has fixed ours to some of those moments, that are past and lost! The fear of having lost it is indeed a sure and sensible mark that I am not yet deprived of it; but what must expect if I let slip this opportunity, and to not grow better by this fear?

We know time is precious and short, and yet we complain it passes slowly; we are continually wishing for some time to some; whence proceeds this uneasiness? Are we weary of living? No, but we make ill use of our time; and that loss which we see and feel disturbs our quiet, and makes us think the time long: All our pleasures and diversions cannot free us from this uneasiness, which never quits those who lose their time. But they who improve it well for their salvation are not object to this uneasiness; nothing is so easy, so full of peace as they. Many saints have, with St. Paul, desired to be delivered from their exile, that they might perfectly enjoy their God, and be out of anger of losing him; but we never find that they were uneasy in the discharge of their duties, in doing the Will of God. So true it is, that to be entirely satisfied and contented, we need only make a good use of time, by yielding obedience to the Divine Will.

But here let us examine what use we made of our time; it's passed, and it be lost too, how great is our loss? How shall we repair it? If we had improved those many moments, hours, and days, as a Christian ought to do, we should reap the fruit in spiritual consolations; instead of which we feel nothing but regret for having lost so much time, and terrible apprehensions for the exact account we must give of it.

Let us therefore at least make good use of what is left, for the period of our lives is fixed; and we draw nearer it every moment; a time will come when we can improve time no longer, because it will be followed by eternity. Let us for the future improve the little that remains, and not lose one single moment.

---

Highlighted version:

Of the good Use of Time

by Fr. Jean Croiset, S.J.

FIRST POINT. That Time is very precious.

SECOND POINT. That the Loss of Time can never be repaired.



FIRST POINT.

Consider that nothing is so precious as time, every moment is worth an eternity; that the glory of the saints, the eternal joys of Heaven, which Christ has purchased for us by his blood, are the reward of the good use we make of our time.

Time is so precious, that the smallest part of it is worth more than all the honours and riches in the world; and though we employ but one moment to get all those honours and riches, if that be all we gain by it, God, who judges righteously, will look upon that moment as lost. If a damned soul were master of all the kingdoms of the earth, he would give them all and all its treasures, for one of those precious minutes which he formerly spent in folly, and which we lose every day.

Comprehend if you can what grace the possession of God is; this grace, this God, are the price of our time, which is given us only to obtain more grace, and by its assistance to merit the enjoyment of God; and it is certain that by every moment we spend for anything else, we lose more than the whole world can repay.

The saints in heaven, by reiterated, perfect acts of virtue to eternity, cannot merit a greater degree of glory; yet this I can merit every moment if I will, by one true act of love to God: Reprobates will not be able to satisfy the Divine Justice, not to obtain the pardon of one sin, by all their regrets and tears, nor by an eternity of dreadful sufferings; but I may do it every moment by one sigh, or one tear; by one act of contrition I may appease the wrath of God.

Eternal happiness or misery will be the consequence of my use or abuse of time; I can work out my salvation only while time lasts; how then can men be so much at a loss how to employ their time? How can they amuse themselves, and be taken up with trifles, only to pass away the time? You do not know how to spend the time. Have you never offended God? Are you not obliged to him? Have you received no favours from Him? Ought not you to adore and serve him? The glorious saints do not think eternity too long to love, to praise, to bless and honour him, and shall we think an hour or a day too long?

You don't know what to do; have you no sins to grieve for? Don't you know that Jesus Christ is in person on the altar, where he expects to be adored, and is adored but by few? And can you want employment for your time? We are never at a loss how to spend our time, but when we have most time to serve and love God: For we can spend whole days in business and vain pleasures, in offending God, and destroying our souls, without being uneasy, or thinking the time long.

Let us consider that we can secure our salvation only while time lasts, and that all the time of our lives is given us only for this end; how careful ought we then to be of improving it? Every moment is precious; we lose all if we lose our time.

But do we much value this loss? Do we think that there is such a thing as the loss of time? We improve every moment some things of no consequence, we are cast down at disappointments, and with all our care and diligence we are continually afraid that we shall want time.

But alas! A time will come when we shall think otherwise, because we shall have juster thoughts; a time will come when we would give all the world to recall some of those precious moment which we now throw away, and willfully lose; when we shall be torn with despair to find that they are all lost, and that time is past.

Then will you cry out, Oh! That I were now in the condition I was in such a day of my life, when I was meditating upon the improvement of my time: Oh! That I had now the same health and strength, my God, what would I not do? But wretched that I am, I foresaw this despair, which torments me now, for having lost my time, why did I make no use of that foresight nor of that time.

Time is short, it ends with our lives we have already passed the greatest part of them, and to what purpose? What use have I made of this last year? How much time have I lost in doing what ought not, or in omitting what I ought to have done? And how little of it have I spent in doing my duty? My God, what a terrible account have I to give of my time, and of these present reflections?

How can I expect mercy from God, if I make no better use of what is left, if I defer my conversion any longer? How many are dead who were in better health than I some months ago? How many seem now in their full vigour who will be in the grave before the year is past? And how do I know that I shall not be one of them?

Let us then work while we have time; we cannot expect it should be long, and therefore let us not defer our conversion one moment.

SECOND POINT

Consider that you can never repair the loss of time; that all you can do will never recall one moment; and if you be capable of reflection, and be seriously desirous of salvation, this will be sufficient to convince you of the importance of redeeming time.

It is certain that all the moments of our lives are counted; let us employ them well or ill, we shall not increase their number, for it is fixed, and lessens continually. An hour ago we had so much more time to work out our salvation, an hour hence we shall have so much less.

Though we live holily after the example of St. Paul, and do not lose one moment of what is left, yet it is most certain that a moment once gone will return no more; and that if it be employ ill 'tis lost. If we employ the rest of our time well, we may escape the dangers into which our abuse of the past has brought us, but we cannot undo what we have done; we have still lost so many precious hours, and with them all the graces which God would have bestowed on us and all the good we might have done in them.

My God, what a loss is this? So many moments lost since we had first the use of reason, and with them so many graces beyond recovery.

When we spend hours and days in vanity, we call it passing the time, a phrase very unfit for a Christian's mouth: We pass away the time, time itself passes away; the time so passed is lost, and neither it, nor the graces we could have merited in it, will return any more.

The grace of predestination is in some manner annexed to some certain moments; what will become of us if God has fixed ours to some of those moments, that are past and lost! The fear of having lost it is indeed a sure and sensible mark that I am not yet deprived of it; but what must expect if I let slip this opportunity, and to not grow better by this fear?

We know time is precious and short, and yet we complain it passes slowly; we are continually wishing for some time to some; whence proceeds this uneasiness? Are we weary of living? No, but we make ill use of our time; and that loss which we see and feel disturbs our quiet, and makes us think the time long: All our pleasures and diversions cannot free us from this uneasiness, which never quits those who lose their time. But they who improve it well for their salvation are not object to this uneasiness; nothing is so easy, so full of peace as they. Many saints have, with St. Paul, desired to be delivered from their exile, that they might perfectly enjoy their God, and be out of anger of losing him; but we never find that they were uneasy in the discharge of their duties, in doing the Will of God. So true it is, that to be entirely satisfied and contented, we need only make a good use of time, by yielding obedience to the Divine Will.

But here let us examine what use we made of our time; it's passed, and it be lost too, how great is our loss? How shall we repair it? If we had improved those many moments, hours, and days, as a Christian ought to do, we should reap the fruit in spiritual consolations; instead of which we feel nothing but regret for having lost so much time, and terrible apprehensions for the exact account we must give of it.

Let us therefore at least make good use of what is left, for the period of our lives is fixed; and we draw nearer it every moment; a time will come when we can improve time no longer, because it will be followed by eternity. Let us for the future improve the little that remains, and not lose one single moment.

wasted many hours in idle talk, in sleep, in pleasure, or idleness

The Manna of the Soul Meditations for Each Day of the Year By Paolo Segneri:

Consider thirdly, that St. Francis Xavier was an arrow
swift in flight. No sooner did he hear the will of God declared
to him by the mouth of his Father, St. Ignatius, than taking
with him only a cassock, a Bible, and a breviary, so as to be
free from all encumbrances, he hastened from Rome to Lisbon,
from Lisbon to Goa, from Goa to the Moluccas, and from the
Moluccas to Melinda, Malabar, Malacca, and many other
unknown nations of India and Japan ; so that in ten years he
had travelled more than a hundred thousand miles, that is to
say, a distance equal to four times round the whole earth.
Thinkest thou, then, that if he could do so much in ten years,
he could have wasted many hours, as thou dost, in idle talk,
in sleep, in pleasure, or idleness? Oh, how unlike such an
arrow art thou, who clingest so closely to thy own comforts as
to lack the courage to leave thy country for the sake of serving
God, or even to quit some particular city, or community, or
house in which thou findest thyself at thy ease! I pray thee
declare to God that, like this glorious Saint, thou, too, wilt
live in a state of detachment from all things

am I spending time on useful or vain things?

The Manna of the Soul Meditations for Each Day of the Year By Paolo Segneri: ""

tragedy of withholding from God so many hours which will never come back

The Liturgical Year By Prosper Guéranger, Catholic Church: "it was a fault in thee who wast called to something higher to withhold from God so many hours which he was inwardly urging thee to reserve for him alone. And who knows whither thy soul might have been led hadst thou continued longer thus to wound thy Spouse. But we whose tepidity can see nothing in thy great sins but what would be perfection in many of us have a right to appreciate as the Church does both thy life and thy writings and to pray with her on this joyful day of thy feast that we may be nourished with thy heavenly doctrine and kindled with thy love of God"