Distractions

 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    To be honest, on a weekly basis or so, my dishwasher is full of clean dishes, having just been washed.  I know that I should put them in their proper cupboards and drawers, but it’s not something I really want to do.  So I find some distraction–maybe the reruns of “Law and Order” that I’ve seen a million times before; maybe checking on my Clash of Clans game on the phone, or scrolling through Facebook; or a particularly ironic choice, eating something, which often involves pulling one dish out to use, while leaving the others still sitting in the dishwasher.
    It’s funny the amount of energy we spend on distractions and not attending to what is important.  I say funny because it takes me all of about 5 minutes to empty the dishwasher.  It’s not hard work, it’s not even that time-consuming.  But the distractions seem more enjoyable, or less work, or just something else other than what we should be doing.
    When it comes to our faith life, we can go after distractions, rather than attending to Jesus, the one who is truly necessary.  We find all sorts of other distractions so that we don’t have to go deeper in our relationship with God.  That’s not to say that we are all called to be monks or nuns, praying different prayers at every moment when we’re not working, cooking, or cleaning.  But how often do we find ways to keep from concentrating on our faith life, on our relationship with God, because we put up distractions as obstacles to dealing with deeper issues?
    We see that even in the Gospel today.  Someone is listening to Jesus, but decides that now is the good time to get Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance issue.  Now, before being too rough on the person, rabbis often intervened to help people understand what was just and the right course of action according to the law of Moses and rabbinical interpretations.  But Jesus doesn’t get bogged down in that.  He calls out the distraction, and asserts that there are more important things to be focused on than who gets the money from the parents’ estate.
    Money can sometimes be a distraction to our relationship with God.  We get so caught up in money issues that we forget to focus on God.  This distraction is particularly tough, because money allows one to fulfill one’s responsibilities to self or to family.  So yes, by all means find a job that helps pay the bills.  But don’t let the quest for money tear you away from God, as it so often does.  Money frequently becomes a god, where if we just had a little more, then we would be fine.  But that little more never seems to be enough, and the bar always seems to move farther and farther away when it comes to how much money we need.  One of the beautiful things about the Catholic Church is that our Church is for rich and poor alike.  We are all called to be fed by the Word of God and the Eucharist, and to share those graces with those we meet, whether we have a lot or a little.  Jesus wants us to make God our priority, in times of plenty and in times of need, even as we share our resources to care for the members of this parish and the wider community.
    I would say that politics has become another distraction to our relationship with God.  In many ways we, as Americans, have made politics our new religion.  We spend hours, not in front of a gold box that holds the Incarnate Word of God, but in front of a thin, black box that shows political party events.  We tire of a ten-minute homily on strengthening our faith, but we’ll spend hours listening to this or that politician pontificate on why the opponent is wrong on whatever the new issue is.  We put up with those who claim to be Catholic but who say things or do things which are contrary to the faith, but if a Democratic senator doesn’t support the Green New Deal, or if a Republican senator votes to approve a controversial appointee, we go crazy and seek to ostracize them from the party and from our life.  We belittle and demonize them and treat them worse that the Pharisees treated sinners and tax collectors.  Again, this is not to say that we shouldn’t participate in politics (you should participate in the primary election this Tuesday, and vote with a conscience informed by your Catholic faith), but what priority do we give to Uncle Sam versus God our Father?
    And we focus on these things and more so that we don’t have to focus on how we’re doing with God.  We have a sense that we’re not as strong in our faith or as close to God as we want to be, but when it comes to cutting out the distractions, we find that we prefer distractions to our religion.  The distractions are, as our first reading says, vanities.  Money will come and go, as will politicians.  But Jesus remains for ever.  Whatever distractions we prefer, they don’t save us, and they don’t continue after death.  And we never know how much time we have before God will call us to account for how we used our time, how much we spent on Him or how much we spent on distractions.  
    Jesus invites us today to be rich in the things that matter to God.  Don’t let distractions keep you from eternal life and the joy that comes from the Gospel!

Oregon Trail, Age of Empires, and Clash of Clans

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was in middle school, probably my favorite computer game was Oregon Trail.  We didn’t have the greatest graphics then, everything was still green and black, so it wasn’t too life-like, but it was fun trying to take settlers from St. Louis to Oregon, without them dying from dysentery or starving to death because there was no food to hunt.  When I was in college, graphics had improved a lot, and my new favorite game was Age of Empires, where you got to build civilizations and defend from bands of foreign armies.  There were many a Friday night where I was playing with or against fellow seminarians on our dorm network.  Now that I’m an adult, I’ve moved on to much more sophisticated things, like Clash of Clans.  In this game, you build a city with walls and attack and defend from other players.  You can also hold mock wars with other groups, and win gold, elixir, and dark elixir.

The common thread in all of these games is the ability to control persons or civilizations.  Perhaps I have a bit of a control-complex, but it’s fun to help civilizations grow and use them to attack other groups.  There’s something fun about being in control.

But Jesus reminds us today that control in life is limited to very few things.  In most aspects of our life, we don’t have any control.  But Jesus tells us not to worry or be anxious.  If you’re like me, that’s easier said than done.  In a more and more chaotic world, the temptation is to try to gain more and more control over our circumstances in life.  

Now certainly, Jesus is not telling us that we should ignore our responsibilities in life and just let things go in favor of seeing how God works.  Jesus is not telling us that we no longer need to go to work, no longer need to pay our bills, no longer need to do our homework, etc.  Those are our responsibilities as part of being a parent or student.  

But think about all the other things we worry about over which we have no control whatsoever.  Probably one of the biggest is what people think of us.  How much time do we spend wondering what someone would think if we do a certain good or neutral action?  We can spend so much time trying to imagine what other people are going to say or think about us that we miss the opportunity to do the good that God wants us to do.

Another area that people commonly worry about is the state of the world.  There are very few things that we are going to do that will have a direct impact on our nations or other nations.  But, if we stop worrying about it and “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” in our lives, then we will be doing what we can, however indirectly, to bring peace and truth and justice to the world.  We can’t control the actions of our nation or other nations, and so should not worry about it.  That’s not to say we shouldn’t do anything about it.  But we shouldn’t be anxious about things over which we cannot control.  We can control our own actions, how we treat others, and so should do our best to live a peaceful and holy life.

Another area of worry is children who do not practice their faith.  Even if they’re not our kids, so many of us at least know someone who has stopped practicing their Catholic faith, and people can spend no small amount of time wondering about where they went wrong, what more they could have done, etc.  We shouldn’t worry about that.  Again, this doesn’t mean we should do nothing.  What we can do is first and foremost, pray for that person.  Spend a good deal of time praying for that person.  Maybe even offer your Lenten penances for that person.  And then, as you feel moved by the Holy Spirit, invite them to come to confession with you, and then Mass.  If they decline, let them know the offer is always there.  

Trust in God is also important in the other areas of our life: marriage, how many kids to have, whether or not to send those kids to a Catholic school.  Certainly, in all those decisions, we should use the gift of reason that God gave us, as well as the teachings of the Church.  But all those decisions also rely on trust in God: trust that we will choose the right person to marry, the person with whom we want to be a saint; trust that, following the teachings of the Church and using Natural Family Planning, that if God surprises us with another child, we will have the ability to love and care for that child; trust that, even if we have to give up a few of our creature comforts, God will help us provide a quality, Catholic education to our children.  

Trust can be hard.  It’s easier to try to control things.  But if we really think about, there is very little that we actually control.  If we rely on the one who actually does have control, then we can find greater happiness from not worrying and wasting energy about things beyond us.  Simply follow the advice of Jesus: “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”