Most of us have something in the past we wish we had done differently.
Opportunities we ignored. Time we gave to things that did not matter nearly as much as we thought they did. Perhaps even years we did not use well.
Maybe there was a period when we drifted from God, neglected prayer, stayed too busy, or simply failed to recognize what was right in front of us. And it can be frustrating to know that we cannot go backward.
But St. Teresa of Avila believed something remarkable: while we cannot recover the hours themselves, God can redeem what we believe has been lost.
And she gave us a prayer for exactly that!
Time belongs to God
We tend to think of time as something we possess and manage. We save it. Waste it. Spend it. Lose it.
But St. Teresa knew that the Catholic understanding of time is much richer than that. As our Good Catholic series Finding Simplicity explains, time has sacred value because God created it. Before creation, time as we know it did not exist. And then, in the Incarnation, God did something even more extraordinary: He entered time Himself.
Carmelite priest Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen writes:
“Time is holy…because it has its origin in God’s work of creation…It becomes the mission of Jesus and each one of us to ‘redeem’ time.”
That doesn't mean figuring out how to cram more productivity into the hours we have left.
It means giving our time back to God.
Catholic time management, as author Dave Durand puts it, is ultimately about cooperating with God's plan rather than trying to manufacture our own:
“You strive to manage your time better, not so you can singlehandedly carve out your own destiny, but rather to cooperate with God more fully in carrying out His divine plan for you.”
—Dave Durand, Time Management for Catholics
Instead of asking only, “How can I get more done?” we begin asking, “What does God want me to do with the time He has given me?”
What about the time we've already wasted?
We can use tomorrow better. But what about yesterday?
Once we understand the value of time, we may become even more aware of the years or opportunities we believe we squandered. Past sins may be forgiven, but their consequences can still leave us wondering what might have been.
St. Teresa of Avila understood that feeling. She entered religious life when she was young, but her spiritual life was hardly a straight line upward. Looking back, Teresa herself regretted years in which she had not given herself to prayer and to God as completely as she later wished she had.
She eventually underwent the profound interior conversion for which we now know her.
And she prayed about the years behind her.
St. Teresa's Prayer to Redeem Lost Time
This is the prayer she gave us:
A Prayer to Redeem Lost Time by St. Teresa of Avila:
O my God! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Your sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace, both now and in the future, that I may appear before You in “wedding garments.”
Amen.
God does not restore lost time by giving us the years back. The past remains the past. But God can redeem what came from it. We can even ask Him for help with the memories.
God's time is not our time. And only He can bring fruit from places we assumed were barren.
St. Paul gives us perhaps the clearest Scriptural reason for that confidence:
“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”
—Romans 8:28, RSV-CE
Begin with the time you have now
Fr. Stinissen makes another important observation:
“The time that God gives always involves a mission…The fact that God gives us time means: you have something to do. And above all: you have something to become.”
We cannot return to yesterday and choose differently. But by the grace of God, we can choose differently today. And when we give even our wasted years to Him, we can trust St. Teresa's remarkable prayer: God can turn loss into gain.
That's also the idea behind the Monk Manual Planner & Journal. Inspired by the ordered rhythm of monastic life, this 90-day planner is designed to help bring spirituality and daily life together, helping us live with greater purpose, productivity, and presence. Discover yours today at The Catholic Company!
