Have you ever used the phrase the “rat race”? The description of the masses in a somewhat dreary, passionless existence is what comes to mind when I think about this phrase.
In this life we are bound to time, there are those who are trapped in the past, those who only live for fleeting pleasures in the present moment and yet we are all a product of the linear story of our lives. Past. Present. Future.
I recall watching a episode of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen where he went on to describe and define the term “rat race”.
He drew a clock on a chalkboard and spoke of those who live only for the moment, and those he described as Rebels, “against ideals and against the past.” “The now moment, the instant never explains anything, it’s like looking through a key hole…”As he quickly emphasized the now moment is in relation to the future, it is time that is our obstacle to real happiness. He described the “rat racers” as those who live just for this second with no meaning in life, with no goals, no plans, those afraid of commitment, those who are bored…the unhappy.
- He noted how in time you can only experience happiness in successive moments. Time is the enemy of happiness because it DEMANDS we take our pleasure successively. True happiness is rooted in the eternal. As he marked on the chalkboard and depicted a clock. He went on to point out the circular shape of the clock and how rats will just go around in circles all the time in a cage in a meaningless existence, with a random “now” moment here and there. Running over and over when confined in a circle. He correlated how most watches are circular and we think life is just a constant recurrence of “inconsequential moments”…the human race can often be similar to the rats in the monotony of just repeating the same routine day in and day out. However he pointed out that, life is vertical not a circle and each day we add to this ascending summit our end. “There comes a time when God draws a line and the things you did are added up….we have a hurdle here Pain, sickness and death.”In the line or story of your life we all have wants… “And we want love… and a day must come when the last embrace is passed from friend to friend, and there is nothing perfect that ends.”
This statement…”There is nothing perfect that ends.” Resonates with my heart as there are those who have come into my life who I have such a unconditional love for that I know that this type of Love has no end, not even death can destroy it.
It is amazing to ponder on how even after you are no longer on this earth that the people you loved and who truly love you, that beautiful bond, your memory and all the beautiful moments are held and immortalized in those hearts dearest to you in this life until you may be reunited again.
You and I want truth, “it is in our deepest nature to know”…what really exists, what is real?…In this life, in the joys and pains, as you and I move forward each day a little bit closer to that last day, the end, that summit of our lives…may we keep our heart, mind and soul pointing to God the whole way through. Only in our creator are we completed. “we want pure light, pure truth, pure love and this is the definition of God.”
So with all these things in mind, I wanted to share with you a line that rang in my heart as I read today’s bible readings:
“persevere in running the race that lies before uswhile keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus…”
Hebrews 12:1-4
