"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end". Revelation. 22:13
Cosmic Time, the Circle – Starting from what is objectively observable, a circular understanding of time has always prevailed in Ancient Greece and the Far East: from the cosmic point of view, the 365 days it takes the earth to go around the sun; from the point of view of nature, more specifically climate change, the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. From these facts, the myth of the "eternal return" was born for philosophy, the idea that "there is nothing new under the sun" for science, and the belief in "reincarnation" for religion.
Human Time, the Straight Line – From an existential and human point of view, each day that comes is one more day that we are going to live and one less day that we have left to live. Conceiving of time as a straight line, coming from the past, passing through the present and heading towards the future, means that what comes from the past, is replaced by the present and drives towards the future, is nothing that can be observed in nature. Time in a straight line is the time of individual and community history, the time that incorporate the idea of progress: today was better than yesterday, tomorrow will be better than today. In philosophy, Heraclitus’ maxim, "we do not bathe twice in the waters of the same river" shares this understanding of time, the same is true in cosmology and religion, which convey the same notions of the beginning and the end of the world.
This is also the Jewish understanding of time: leaving Egypt (a land of slavery), passing through the desert (a place of suffering, penance, purification, and effort) and entering the Promised land, overflowing with milk and honey (a land of freedom, rewarded effort and finished work). This is the archetype of progress and human life advocated by Karl Marx’s theory, in which Egypt would be capitalism, the desert would be dictatorship over the proletariat and the promised land would be socialism and a classless society.
Christian Time, the Spiral - It is the synthesis between the straight line and the circle since it is a circle in continuous forward movement. The Portuguese dictionary defines a spiral as "a curved unlimited line described by a point that turns around a pole and progressively moves away from it", like a propeller, a spring, or a spiral staircase. This is Christian time and even human time (it should be noted that the DNA of our genetic code is represented in the form of a spiral). As the figure shows, each year consists of 365 days around the Sun – the Sun that is Christ, who illuminates and gives meaning to our lives, who is the beginning and the end, both Universe and of our individual lives.
Christian time, therefore, is neither a circle nor a straight line, that is, each Christmas and each Easter are different, given that the year we are in and the conditions of the situations in which we find ourselves are different. However, Christ is the constant throughout our lives, He is the axis around which we gravitate, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Each year that passes we meditate on the mystery of Christ, from his Incarnation until his Death, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.
Ultimately, to get out of our personal "Egypt", shaping our lives more and more like His, so that one day we will reach the Promised Land and be able to say like St. Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Galatians. 2:20).
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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