"Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom"  Ps 90:12

The topic of all topics at this time is the coronavirus. Indeed, it is mentioned in this text too. But is that entirely so? Is the virus really the top topic in the media, in conversation …? One topic rivals, in the frequency with which it is mentioned, the viral topic of the virus.
That topic is time. Time!

"Until when? How long will it last? When will the easing of restrictions come? How long have we already been shut in? How long will the tourist season last? How long will the crisis last? Has anything like this ever been remembered before? How long will the loan repayment deferrals and the moratorium on enforced debt collection last?  Time.

A rabbi was once asked which moment in his life had been the most beautiful, when he had felt happiest. When he had the impression that the joy he felt was in fact what a person otherwise strives for. He answered briefly: "This very moment that I am living now". His puzzled listeners asked him the question again, and again he answered: "This very moment that I am living now".

The topic of all topics at this time is the coronavirus. Indeed, it is mentioned in this text too. But is that entirely so? Is the virus really the top topic in the media, in conversation …? One topic rivals, in the frequency with which it is mentioned, the viral topic of the virus. That topic is time. Time! "Until when? How long will it last? When will the easing of restrictions come? How long have we already been shut in? How long will the tourist season last? How long will the crisis last? Has anything like this ever been remembered before? How long will the loan repayment deferrals and the moratorium on enforced debt collection last?   Time.

Indeed, it seems that we talk more about time than about the virus. By this I mean chronological time. This time that passes and that creates unrest, especially for those who work and create and who have been denied the possibility of working. Time that relentlessly passes and creates financial losses, and is also the quiet enemy of our families.

This time is a gift, given so that the true state of our families might be seen. Time which is not just money, but time to be together. Time of truth, time of reality, time of our fragility, our impatience. Time that brings quarrels, divisions. "I've been looking at you too long," says one woman to her husband. "How long must I put up with you all," says one mother to her restless children, who would love to be playing outside with other children. "When will we see each other," says one daughter to her sick mother in another town, or a boy in love to his girlfriend.

The Christian has an answer to this! Whereas in the mentality of people who have not come to know God's love, time is money and serves that purpose absolutely, the Christian concept of time is not chronological. We do not live in a cyclically repeating, monotonous, dreadful time; one that devours our youth, our money, that makes us nostalgic and sluggish, that gives us the feeling that we have missed something, done something badly, that "it could have been better", and so on.

Through Christ's resurrection, God's time made a powerful entry into this chronological time. Scripture calls that time kairos. It is a happy moment, important, full of grace. In that "moment" God is present. He wills it. He fills it. God entered chronos through his incarnation in Jesus Christ, but through his resurrection he transformed this time of ours. "For he says: At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation," writes Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians, and the Greek original uses the word kairos for the word time.

In the light of Christ's victory over sin and death, we live God's time, which is an absolute newness. A time of life in fullness. Without fear that it will slip from our hands. Every moment is given to us as a gift, to be lived in fullness. It is the most joyful, even though we may now be nervous, empty, dissatisfied, worn out by tense relationships at home, by that "let's stay at home"! This very moment  is given by God. Even though you are producing nothing, even though you feel useless, you are in kairos - God's favourable moment, filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Victor over time! Let us live this "rabbi's moment." Now is the most beautiful. And it can only get better with God, who ceaselessly gives new, full, time filled with new Life. Whoever learns to "number his days" gains a wise heart. This is the height of peace, of self-giving. There is no anxiety. I live today. I count. Not money. But God's time. And all the rest will be added to me as well.