A Glory Be at 3:33?

You know you are a Catholic when the alarm clock, watch or phone displays 3:33 and you reply with a 'Glory Be'.

We might be tempted to think, 'Is this some kind of fluke? No actually it's not. It's just the next number in a sequence. It's not like a miracle or something'.

We might wonder whether we are giving in to a some kind of weird, superstitious scrupulosity. If we feel compelled to pray at 3:33 are we suffering from 'Catholic OCD'?

No. Theologivally it's called, 'actual grace'. Actual grace refers to a temporary, supernatural help or intervention from God that empowers individuals to perform good actions and avoid evil. When it kicks in we realize as we stare at the 3:33 on the clock, he who is outside of time has entered time therefore we ought to pray. It's not weird. It's appropriate. Over time I have learned to just roll with it. Now, when I see the 3:33 I choose to see God and embrace it as a reminder to pray.  

As believers in the Christian God, we ought to respond with a fitting prayer that names the Three Holy Persons in the Trinity and reminds us of God's eternal presence throughout three phases of time, past, present and future. A short 'Glory Be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be a world without end. Amen' would be an appropriate and wholesome response. If you're feeling really ambitious, three Glory Be’s would be an even more 'perfectly complete' response. 

In biblical numerology ‘three’ is a number that stands for ‘completeness’. The Jews had to pass through three sacred precincts, the courtyard, the holy room and finally the holy of holies to get to the ark of the covenant which contained three holy objects within the Ark of the Covenant (manna, Aaron's staff, and the Ten Commandment tablets). The God of the three great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who became flesh and suffered and died was first denied by Peter three times only to rise after three days.

Furthermore, whenever a gospel writer sets up a key point in a narrative or covers a series of parables they are usually in sets of three. In Luke’s gospel we see a set of three parables each telling about something precious to God that was lost and then found. We have the lost coin, the lost sheep and the prodigal son who was lost but has been found. Luke wants to make it clear that God’s rejoicing in recovering the coin and the sheep is nearly complete. But he is wholly joyful when he recovers a single repentant sinner. 

Another number for God is seven. Seven reveals God’s perfection. For example, in the Temple the seven branched candlestick reflected God as the Perfect Light of the world. 

Using the number three and the number seven together would be a better and more numerologically accurate representation for God. It would say that God is completely(3) perfect (7). Alas, our clocks do not offer that number. We only have 60 minutes in an hour so there is no 7:77 AM or PM for that matter. Then there's is the completely imperfect number 666 but getting into that would require a separate article.

So, what if we get a 3:33? This may be a way of seeing the unity and equality of the three Persons in one divine nature. Or it might provoke the thought, ‘The Three in One, the complete and holy Trinity’ or ‘It takes Three to be completely One’. 

The prayer of Saint Patrick teaches us that in the Catholic imagination God is right here. He may be on the other side of the veil undetectable to the senses but every now and then he breaks through. For a lot of Catholics, numbers are occasions of actual grace. Something that breaks into the ordinary moment, catches our attention and offers us a reminder and a  blessing of a God who is always there.

This way of seeing God is thoroughly Catholic. Using many prepositions it describes God as immanent. “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”  

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. He truly is here because the world we live in is full of the grandeur of God.

I will end with another 333...

Jeremiah 33:3 describes this kind of God that would constantly be reminding us of His presence. God never grows weary of us. He continually beckons, “Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you great things beyond the reach of your knowledge.”