Sacred Signs
by Romano Guardini

TIME SANCTIFIED

THOUGH each hour of the day has its own character, three hours

stand out from the rest--morning, evening, and, half way between

them, noonday, and have an aspect distinctively their own. These

three hours the church has consecrated.

Of them all the morning hour wears the most shining face. It

possesses the energy and brightness of a beginning. Mysteriously,

each morning we are born again. We emerge out of sleep refreshed,

renewed, with an invigorating sense of being alive. This newly

infused feeling of our existence turns to a prayer of

thanksgiving for life to him who gave it. With an impulse to

action born of fresh energy we think of the day ahead and of the

work to be done in it, and this impulse also becomes a prayer. We

begin the day in God's name and strength and ask him to make our

work a work for him.

This morning hour when life reawakens and we are more keenly

aware of our existence, when we begin the day with gratitude for

our creation and turn to our work with fresh creative power, is a

holy hour.

It is plain how much depends on this first hour. It is the day's

beginning. The day may be started without a beginning. The day

may be slipped into without thought or intention. But such a day,

without purpose or character, hardly deserves the name. It is no

more than a torn-off scrap of time. A day is a journey. One must

decide which way one is going. It is also a work, and as such

requires to be willed. A single day is the whole of life. The

whole of life is like a day. Each day should have its own

distinct character.

The morning hour exercises the will, directs the intention, and

sets our gaze wholly upon God.