Most parents know the pedagogical technique of putting their child in “time-out” when the child has misbehaved. Take her from the place where the bad behavior is occurring and take her to another place (a stair step from your house) so that she can spend some time “thinking” about what she did wrong.
Usually the time is counted in minutes, according to the child’s age. This technique has been shown to be efficient (at least it is my experience when I had small children), as the child comes to understand that certain ways of acting may result in going to “time-out.”
The part that is probably not very effective is that the child should think about the wrong attitude she was doing. I really do not believe that my children kept thinking that their behavior was not correct, mainly because they were very young. But as the result was achieved, I never gave much importance to this part of the technique.
Now, however, with this mandatory quarantine that the whole world is going through, I wondered if God, as a good Father, didn’t think it was time to put each one of us in “time-out” to think about our attitudes, to reflect how we are preparing for our encounter with Him, our future life in eternity.
The “naughty step” is our own home, our family. We are all confined at home, with a time that we never imagined we had, many are anxious, others are bored, others are overly busy with domestic and home office issues, but is this time really “efficient”? Are we taking the opportunity to think about the “for what” of all this?
We know that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28) and that Divine Providence leads everything so that each human being may, one day, enjoy eternal joy in Heaven. God never wants evil, but He sometimes permit it, so He can take a greater good out of it. I believe that this is our current situation. God is speaking “loudly,” as if shouting to the world (and each one of us) to wake up and reflect which way it is going.
I suggest here that we make a serious reflection on our life, the path we are following. Is our goal Heaven? Are we more concerned with our physical well-being than with our spiritual well-being? Do I relate to God as a loving father, who wishes me well and who one day wants to see me with Him in Paradise? Do I at least talk to him every day through personal prayer?
Another reflection we need to make is about our sacramental life. The vast majority of us are deprived of receiving the sacraments, especially those who help us on our spiritual journey, Confession and the Eucharist. Hence the question: did I make good use of the opportunities to receive the Holy Eucharist? Did I always receive it with due respect and love? Did I confess regularly or just once a year as requested by the Holy Church? How did I make my confessions? Did I have repentance and a firm purpose of no longer sinning?
We need to take this time very seriously. The saying goes that “the worst blind person is the one who doesn’t want to see.” We cannot waste our time, which is one of the most precious assets we have. We are still enjoying the time of God’s mercy, but we know that the day of justice will come. Let us give the answer that our Father expects of us: to set our course, to make the necessary life changes, so that we may love God and our neighbor more and better each day.
Copyright 2020 Flávia Ghelardi
This article was originally published at CatholicMom.com and is shared here with permission.
