A Divine Lent #10: We can easily lose all sense of time


A daily reflection during Lent on Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Just as the previous canto was about guidance, the theme of Canto 4 in Purgatory is time, how we lose track of it, how we measure it, and much we have and don't have of it. Dante begins,

And so it is that when we see or hear
something which wholly captivates the soul,
we can easily lose all sense of time.
The sense aware of time is different
from that which dominates all the soul:
the first is free to roam, the other, bound.

"Free to roam" is such an enticing phrase.  It brings to mind Billy Pilgrim time-tripping in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.  In a faced-paced world, losing track of time can be a respite from stress and obligations.

Losing the sense of time, though, is a double-edged sword.  While it is admirable that Dante get's lost in time speaking with the souls of departed friends, first Casella, then Manfred, he has as well lost sight of his task at hand, climbing the mountain.  Before he knows it, he has lost over three hours.  One of the group with whom he and Virgil are slowly walking shocks them back to reality by crying out, "Here is what you seek."

I am reminded of the story of Jesus in Mark 5 on a mission to go heal Jairus' daughter.  When a woman with chronic hemorrhaging touches his cloak, Jesus stops to interact with her.  For a moment, he has lost his sense of time before continuing on.  Each canto in the Divine Comedy has these momentary encounters that stop Dante on his mission to travel through hell and purgatory to reach paradise.  These encounters though provide some of the most substantive content of the Comedy.  A good sense of time requires both perspectives: an awareness of the urgency to continue on the journey as well as an awareness of when to suspend time to make the most of the moment at hand.

May we all make the most of this time in Lent, knowing when to get lost in time and when to be mindful of time.

As a sidenote, Virgil explains a unique characteristic of the mountain they are climbing.

This Mount is not like others: at the start
it is more difficult to climb, but then,
the more one climbs the easier it becomes;
and when the slope feels gentle ...
well then, you have arrived at road's end,
and there you can expect, at last, to rest.

These news is hard to take when exhausted after the first ascent.  When trying to adopt a new practice, though, I tell myself that it should get easier with each day.  Time makes a difference.  We are creatures of habit, so may we use this time during Lent start the climbs we need to start.



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