Some days the readings feel like a quiet alarm clock: not shrill, but insistent. Today’s Scriptures ask for two things at once—love that grows and watchfulness that perseveres. On the Memorial of Saint Augustine, whose restless heart finally learned to rest in God, we are invited to count our days wisely, to order our loves rightly, and to live faithfully in the “in-between” of Christ’s promise and his unexpected arrival.
Numbering Our Days and Ordering Our Loves
Psalm 90 teaches us to reckon with time not as a tyrant, but as a teacher: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart” (Ps 90:12). The psalmist’s perspective is sobering—“a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday” (Ps 90:4)—yet it is also tender: “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness” (Ps 90:14). The point is not dread but desire: to receive each day as a gift to be stewarded in love.
This pairs naturally with Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all… so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness” (1 Thes 3:12–13). Holiness is not first a strategy; it is the fruit of rightly ordered love. Saint Augustine named this ordo amoris—our lives find integrity when our loves are set in their proper order: God first, then neighbor, then self, then created goods according to their true worth. Much of our modern restlessness—overwork, doomscrolling, the churn of comparison—springs from disordered desire. Numbering our days helps us notice what our calendars are already confessing we love most.
A simple examen can re-order the heart: What received my best attention today? Did I move through my tasks in love, or merely in haste? Where did I let God’s kindness greet me “at daybreak” (Ps 90:14)? Answering honestly is the beginning of wisdom.
Stay Awake: Faithful Presence in the In-Between
Jesus’ command is direct: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come” (Mt 24:42). But he also shows what wakefulness looks like: the “faithful and prudent servant” who keeps distributing food “at the proper time” (Mt 24:45). Watchfulness is not anxious sky-gazing; it is steady, self-forgetful service. The unfaithful servant’s downfall is not merely bad behavior—it is the quiet decision to live as if the Master’s delay means the Master is absent (Mt 24:48–51).
In the modern world, our watchfulness is tested less by persecution than by sedation—endless notifications, fatigue, the normalization of cutting corners when no one is watching. Yet the Lord’s measure remains the same: fidelity in the ordinary. St. Teresa of Ávila, a wise guide to interior vigilance, insisted that deep prayer must overflow into concrete charity; authentic contemplation makes us more capable of the daily “distribution” required by our vocations. In other words, prayer keeps the heart awake so that service remains faithful, not performative.
Try small, sturdy practices of wakefulness: fixed moments for prayer before screens, an intentional act of mercy each day, and honest accountability in your work. These are not dramatic gestures; they are the quiet rhythm of a heart that expects the Lord.
Hope That Builds, Not Hurries
Paul writes from “distress and affliction,” yet finds life in the steadfastness of the Thessalonians: “We now live, if you stand firm in the Lord” (1 Thes 3:7–8). His longing is not passive; he prays “night and day” and trusts God to “direct our way to you” (1 Thes 3:10–11). Hope is patient, but it is not idle. It builds—strengthening hearts, nurturing love, and preparing for the Lord’s coming without presuming to predict it.
This stands as a gentle correction to two familiar temptations: the hurry that exhausts us and the cynicism that quietly gives up. Christians are not timekeepers of the apocalypse; we are caretakers of each present moment in Christ. When we live this way, hope becomes credible again—to our families, our colleagues, our neighbors.
Saint Augustine: A Restless Heart Made Watchful
Augustine (354–430), born in North Africa, knew the ache of disordered love. Hungry for truth and greatness, he wandered through philosophies and pleasures until grace, his mother Monica’s tears, and the preaching of Ambrose led him to Christ. Baptized at thirty-three, he became priest and then bishop of Hippo, feeding his people with teaching and tangible care. His Confessions still ring with candor: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Augustine teaches that we become what we love. When lesser goods take first place, we grow divided; when God is first, everything else finds its measure. That is Paul’s prayer lived out: abounding love that strengthens the heart “to be blameless in holiness” (1 Thes 3:13). Augustine also pondered time deeply: the present is where eternity brushes our lives. We cannot hold yesterday or tomorrow, but we can be faithful now—“distributing food at the proper time” (Mt 24:45)—with an eye on the City of God.
His counsel remains bracingly practical: love God, then do what love requires. In a culture tempted to sleepwalk through days or sprint without aim, Augustine’s converted vigilance is a needed antidote.
Practices for Today
- Number your days: At day’s end, name one attachment to release and one act of love to repeat tomorrow (Ps 90:12, 14).
- Pray for someone “night and day”: Choose one person and ask God to “direct your way” to them this week (1 Thes 3:10–11).
- Order your loves: Identify one good thing that has taken God’s place—work, approval, comfort—and re-order it with a concrete boundary (1 Thes 3:12–13).
- Stay awake in small fidelities: Keep one hidden promise at work or home today, simply because the Master sees (Mt 24:42–46).
- Offer your labor: Before you begin, ask, “Prosper the work of our hands!” and dedicate the task to Christ (Ps 90:17).
The Scriptures do not ask us to live on edge, but on purpose. If the Lord came today, would he find us loving well, awake to grace, steady in the work given to us? With the psalmist we pray, “Fill us with your love… and we will sing for joy” (Ps 90:14). With Paul we ask to abound in love (1 Thes 3:12). With Jesus we choose watchfulness (Mt 24:42). And with Augustine we entrust our restless hearts to the One who alone can order them, today.