Celebrating anniversaries: A Reflection

I will have to celebrate three anniversaries this year 2021. I will celebrate the 60th anniversary of my ordination as a priest which took place on March 18, 1961. I will celebrate the 46th anniversary of my consecration as bishop which was held on June 18, 1975. And of course on November 01 this year I will celebrate my 87th birthday anniversary having been born on November 01, 1934.

87, 60 and 45th are numbers. Yes, they are special moments in my life. What’s the point in saying they are only numbers?

The point is not to emphasize the lengthy succession of time’s seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years in the numbered aging process of the past.

What I should emphasize is the ageless stream of the Timeless Present which is actually the life of the soul. Second Cor. 4:16 refers to this as my inner nature. Both are a mystery inviting me to a deeper inner stillness to contemplate God’s loving mercy in Jesus Christ living in me.