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Dancing with Time
By José Maria R. Olaizola SJ (Translated by Helena Scott)
Messenger Publications, 2025, £12.95
ISBN 978-178812-695-3
In this issue, where we are considering how those in different generations may relate to preaching, Dancing with Time is a reminder of some of the common stages of life people experience as they age and an exploration of aspects of aging itself. Olaizola draws on Ignatian spirituality to enable reflection on, and deeper appreciation of, our unpredictable and varied journeys of maturation.
This book is easy to read and accessible. It is not laden with any dense theological concepts and it does not offer biblical work to any depth. It is instead a ‘word in time’ which explores the fears and superficialities of the age that affect the lives of young and old.
I was struck by the way in which the author explores how those who are adults ‘can dialogue with the younger self we left behind and finally come to understand the path we have travelled’ and that, likewise, young people can ‘have a conversation with the adult they want to become’ (p. 14). The prophetic element of preaching naturally invites preachers to give attention to the now-ness of sermons. Olaizola offers a helpful counterbalance to this, reminding preachers that we preach to past, future, and present selves. The chapter titled ‘Dancing with Time: Beyond Carpe Diem’ picks up this theme and unpacks it more fully.
Towards the end of the book, the chapters on desire and faith invite some deeper soul-searching. Olaizola explores both desire and faith as things that endure but that morph and change in the course of time. The author invites particular attention to these two aspects in the ongoing dance of life.
Overall, this is an insightful and eloquent book in which the author speaks of the sorrows, disappointments and the discoveries that the journey through life presents. As the title suggests, the main thrust of this book is the author talking about life as a dance in which we dance with happiness, loneliness, love, and many more experiences. Ultimately, our dance is sometimes alone and sometimes with others. Our faith journey is itself a dance with God marked by changes of pace in the strangeness of time.
For preachers looking for some fresh ways to think about how people experience life at different stages, Olaizola’s book offers some interesting images and ideas that can help to exegete congregations of all ages, as they age.
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