I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;
I like to consider myself to be a good follower of Christ. I read daily scripture and read of watch reflections on those readings. I read, as well as write for, A Catholic Moment. I read about the saint of the day and also read a few meditations daily. I like to sometimes say that I put Christ at the center of my life. But then…reality sets in. First of all, Christ, I am sure, does not want me to be a “good” follower. Remember the quote about being lukewarm and being spat out of God’s mouth?
Also, though I read scripture and reflections I often feel like I just go through the motions. I have the day’s upcoming responsibilities going through my head while watching Father Burke Masters doing his daily reflection video. At times I finish with the attitude, “Got that checked off. Now time3 to get on with my day”
I recall someone describing Mother Theresa’s daily adoration before she and her Sisters of Charity would hit the streets of Calcutta. Normally they would be an hour of daily adoration. Unless things for the upcoming day looked extra busy. Conventional thought would be that she cut her adoration time back to be able to fit in all she had to do that day. In fact, it was the opposite. She would double down and INCREASE her devotional time before facing the work God had given her. She saw her time in adoration as a fundamental part of her work as she was quoted as saying:
“I know I would not be able to work one week if it were not for that continual force coming from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (during my Holy Hour of Adoration).”
So where are our priorities? I can admit that before I did my readings today and began work on this reflection, I first took care of some computer work I needed to get done for my motorcycle business. It is so easy to let the world step in and distract us from the work God gives us to do each day. Father Burke’s reflection today took place outside in a courtyard area at his Church in Hinsdale, IL. As some of you may know, right now in the Midwest there is an onslaught of Cicadas covering the landscape. In addition to their physical presence, the volume of their calling is deafening. Father Burke compared the noise interrupting his reflection with the work of the devil to try to take our focus off God.
So what does it mean to spend regular, uninterrupted time with God? I think it can vary from person to person but I can say, from experience, if you set a time to spend with God, you need to stick with it. Like setting up an exercise routine, it is easy to say, “I can get to it later” Over time, that becomes the default response until the idea of being with God remains out of your conscious. Here are a few tips I read about while researching:
- Set a time of day that works for you. Mornings with God are always a good way to start the day but maybe you are up early to get kids ready for school or care for an elderly parent. Just pick a time that is best for you that will not result in interruptions. I know when I am doing mine, at times Elise inevitably picks that time to show me the latest video of some guy doing his best impersonations of a variety of breeds of dogs. Or something similar.
- You cannot have a quality relationship with your spouse of children unless you give them your time. Same with your relationship with God. He wants you hanging on His every word.
- What you do during your daily devotional can vary by what works best for you. Reading Scripture. Listening to scripture. Reading a good Catholic book. Journaling and prayer. Just talking to God and telling Him about what is happening in your life.
OK. Now that I got this written, off to change the chain, sprockets and oil on my motorcycle.
