O’Reilly was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place, I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life & give up drinking Whiskey!
Miraculously, a parking place appeared. O’Reilly looked up again & said, "Never mind Lord, I've found one myself."
This past Christmas I received a tear off daily calendar & Ash Wednesday’s insight was “An unused Bible is worthless. A well-worn Bible is priceless.” If you do not [already] read the Bible start, even if you only read a verse or two a day. The time you spend reading the scriptures will enrich and strengthen your spiritual life.
A few years after I was born, my parents met a Stranger. As I grew up, I never questioned the Stranger’s place in my family. My parents were my first teachers, they taught us to go to Mass every Sunday and on the Holy days. They taught us a basic moral code good from bad, right from wrong, to listen and to obey. But the stranger ... he was a storyteller who kept us spellbound for hours with adventures, mysteries and comedies.
In our home profanity was not allowed – not from us, our friends, or any visitors; the one exception was the Stranger. My parents taught us that when we were of age, we could use alcohol, but that we should use it in moderation; the Stranger proclaimed “no limits.” The Stranger talked freely about sex; in ways that were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive and most times inappropriate. More than sixty-five years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. The Stranger’s name? TV.
Into my own family along with Stranger, came his children: Computer, Cell Phone and his grandchild iPad. I am not anti-technology, but for the sake of our children and ourselves we need to monitor the electronic influences that are bombarding us. [adopted and modified from Fr. Tommy Lane]
St. Paul reminds us of the great gift the Scriptures are for us. In the Gospel, the devil temps Jesus with bread, power and pride. Lent offers us the opportunity to “live in the radiance of God” to deepen our focus on living God’s will for us. Lent affords us the time to reflect on the “nagging voice” of God’s Spirit within us calling us to reform, repair, recenter our focus in life to our Discipleship.
That will take us to a “desert” for spiritual renewal. Two Jesuits Fr. Joseph Whelan & [wrote] Fr. Pedro Arrupe popularized “Fall in Love.”
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything.
It will decide … what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart & what amazes you with joy & gratitude.”
Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
Lent is a challenge, a gift, a hardship and a time of grace. Think about how you can this Lent spend more time in the spiritual world and less time in electronic.
May God Be Praised.
No comments:
Post a Comment