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Seventeenth Sunday of the Year
24 July 2011
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In my homily last weekend, I outlined six principles that could help all of us form structures in our lives that lead us to prayer. The first – and, I think, the most important – of these principles is silence. We desperately need to carve out spaces for silence in our day.
Sometimes, the Lord speaks to His People through burning bushes, lightening storms with peals of thunder, and earthquakes. But these manifestations of God’s presence are admittedly rare. Yes, sometimes the Lord will make a boom and a splash and a rumble in our lives to make Himself known and to wake us from spiritual slumber.
Usually, however, the Lord chooses to communicate Himself in a far subtler manner: through the gentle nudges and whispers within our hearts. While 21st century technology is a blessing in so many ways, it has led to a major problem: constant sensory stimulation. From the moment we wake up to our favorite morning news show till the moment we go to bed while watching Leno or Netflix, and at every moment in between, our eyes and ears are being bombarded with constant chatter.
While the Internet has ushered in a new age of social networking and streaming on-demand media, it has also given us the threat of information overload. We have more information at our fingertips than ever before and yet, ironically, almost no time to take it all in and process what we see, read, and hear.
Please know I’m also preaching to myself here: if I’m away from my Smartphone for more than five minutes, I start getting the shakes! That’s not good.
As difficult as it can be, we need to unplug ourselves from the information superhighway every so often throughout the day. Remember: we are the masters of our technology, and not vice versa.
Start out simply: make the small sacrifice to wake up a little earlier, fix yourself a cup of coffee or tea (to avoid the lure of your bed calling you back!), and sit down with the psalms or a rosary or even a devotional book. Allow yourself time to breathe and to be silent before the Good Lord’s presence in your soul. Try not to think about your tasks for the day; rather, entrust your cares to the Lord, asking the Holy Spirit to guide and direct you throughout the day ahead.
These few minutes will set the tone for the entire day. It will significantly affect how you approach your work outside or within the home, allowing you keener spiritual depth of perception. This little way of “seeking first the Kingdom of God” will be of special benefit with how we deal with the trials and sufferings of the day, as we realize that the Lord is with us at every step.
Commit to this discipline for at least a month, and see if it doesn’t make a helpful difference in your life.
Father Cassabon