The Value of Time — “Why stand you here idle all day?”

Jesus asked the men, “Why stand you here idle all the day?” St. Matt. 20:6. St. Alphonsus, in his book, PREPARATION FOR DEATH, has this to say: “There is nothing more precious than time; but there is nothing less esteemed and more despised by men of the world. This is what St. Bernard deplores when he says: Nothing is more precious than time, but nothing is regarded more cheaply.” The same saint adds: “The days of salvation pass away, and no one reflects that day which has passed away from him can never return.” You will see a gambler spend nights and days in play. If you ask him what he is doing, his answer is: I am passing the time. You will see others standing several hours in the street, looking at those who pass by, and speaking on obscene or on useless subjects. If you ask them what they are doing, they will say: We are passing the time. Poor blind sinners! who lose so many days; but days which never return.

O time despised during life! you will be ardently desired by worldlings at the hour of death. They will then wish for another year, another month, another day; but they will not obtain it: they will then be told that time shall be no longer. How much would they then pay for another week, or another day, to settle the accounts of their conscience? To obtain a single hour, they would, says St. Laurence Justinian, give all their wealth and worldly possessions. But this hour shall not be given them.”

“Idleness is the devil’s workshop,” as the old saying goes. Or, as the Scripture says: “Idleness hath taught much evil.” Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 33:29, drbo.org. How often it is that people will sit around spending hours watching TV, internet, going to sporting events for hours, bars, gyms, and so forth, and all that time is wasted. Idle talk, uncharitable talk, foolish and vulgar talk. “But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth.” Col. 3:8.  “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. ” St. Matt. 12:26. “Every idle word”: This shews there must be a place of temporal punishment hereafter where these slighter faults shall be punished.

No merit for heaven, no grace for the soul, no sanctification for the soul, no grace for family members who are lost, or out of the true Church, or poor sinners. St. Francis de Sales speaks of games which are lawful in themselves if they are not played in excess, and he counsels his spiritual daughter not to set her affections upon them; for however innocent whatsoever they may be, he says, “when we set our hearts upon it, it becomes vicious.” Think about that, those of you who take up so much time with your children to participate in sports.

The same saint has this to say about gambling. “The games of dice, cards, and the like,in which the gain depends principally on hazard, are not only dangerous recreations, as dancing, but are, of their own nature, bad and reprehensible; hence they have been forbidden by the laws, as well ecclesiastical as civil…Is not that joy iniquitous which cannot be felt, but by the loss or displeasure of a friend or companion?”

“St. Louis, hearing that his brother the Count of Anjou, and Monsieur Gautier de Nemours were gaming, arose from his bed to which he was confined by sickness, went staggering to their chamber, and taking the tables, the dice, and part of the money, threw them out of the window into the sea. The holy and chaste damsel, Sara, speaking in prayer to God, brings this argument to her innocency, “Thou knowest, O Lord, that I have never joined myself to them that play.” Tobias ch. 3.”

“Balls and dancing,” he goes on to say, “preponderate very much on the side of evil, and are consequently extremely dangerous…The votaries of these amusements, by sitting up late at night, disable themselves from discharging their duty to God on the following morning. Is this not then a kind of madness, to exchange the day for night, light for darkness, and good works for fooleries?” He does not condemn dances entirely, but cautions her if she sometimes must go to a ball, it must be properly conducted. How? “With modesty, gravity, and a good intention. Like mushrooms, the quantity of which makes them poisonous, dance but little, and very seldom…These idle recreations are ordinarily very dangerous; they extinguish the spirit of devotion, and leave the soul in a languishing condition; they cool the fervor of charity, and excite a thousand evil affections in the soul, and therefore they are to be used but with the greatest caution.”

The following consideration should be reflected upon by all those who waste time in gaming and all other wasteful amusements. “Consider,” he says, ”that during the time you were at the ball, innumerable souls were burning in the flames of hell, for the sins which they committed or occasioned by their dancing. Also, at the same time, “many religious and devout persons of both sexes were at the very time in the presence of God, singing his praises, and contemplating His beauty. Ah! how much more profitably was their time spent than yours. Again, That whilst you were dancing, many souls departed out of this world in great anguish, and that thousands of men and women were then suffering dreadful pains in their beds, in hospitals, in the streets, by painful distempers, or burning fevers. Alas! they had no rest, and will you have no compassion for them? And do you not think, that you shall one day groan, as they did, whilst others shall dance as you did? Moreover, that our Blessed Saviour, his Virgin Mother, the angels and the saints, beheld you at the ball. Ah! how greatly did they pity you, seeing your heart pleased with so vain an amusement, and taken up with childish toys! Finally, whilst you were there, time was passing away, and Death was approaching nearer; behold how he mocks you, (the devil), and invites you to the dance, in which the sighs of your friends shall serve for music, and where you shall make but one step from this life to the next. The dance of death is, alas! the true pastime of mortals, since by it we instantly pass from the vain amusements of this world to the eternal pains or pleasures of the next. ” – From St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to a Devout Life.

These reflections from these two great saints should make us ponder, and consider our last end. O that they would be wise and understand, and provide for their last end.” Deut. 32;29. “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin:” Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 5:5. For we never know that the next sin we commit may be our last one. St. Alphonsus says God keeps account of everything, not only of all the graces he gives us, but also all the sins we commit, and he has numbered even our sins. ”Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.” Wisdom 11:21. And when we have filled up the measure, God will chastise. “He will punish them in the fullness of their sins.” 2 Mach. 6:14. ON THE NUMBER OF SINS BEYOND WHICH GOD PARDONS NO MORE > olrl.org/snt_docs/num_sins.shtml

Yes, while thousands of people are out amusing themselves daily, devout Christians are kneeling before Jesus in the Mass, receiving our Lord in Holy Communion, in visits and Holy Hours of adoration, in nocturnal hours of prayer (at home), praying their rosaries and many other holy devotions, winning graces for themselves, and their loved ones.

St. Faustina was given a vision of two roads. On one road there were all kinds of beautiful flowers and joys which so many were participating in. Those who enjoyed all the good things of this life. On the other road were many thorns, crosses, and sorrows, and the people were sad, but at the end of the first road, people were falling into hell, because they lived for themselves, and not for God. On the other road, people were living for God, and suffering many hardships, like Our Lord Jesus himself, but at the end of their road was great happiness, and the joys of heaven forever more.

The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved olrl.org/snt_docs/fewness.shtml

BE RELIGIOUS OR BE DAMNED! olrl.org/snt_docs/dancing.shtml

TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY & HER DAILY ROSARY

                 “PRAY THE ROARY EVERY DAY.” https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2022/03/10/470/