So much to do and so little time.  Our students are back in the classroom. Sports are already in full swing.  Vacation season is pretty much over until Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Our parish religious education programs are about to begin.  Don’t forget our Parish Fun Festival.  Meetings. More meetings.  Then there is the regular routine of daily life.  In the midst of all this it is so easy to set aside the things of eternity.  

Who has the time for eternity?  The answer is contained in the question. Eternity is beyond time, and the matter of eternity has already begun.  At our birth we begin our journey through eternity.  I often say in my homilies, with my hands excitedly gesturing towards heaven,  that what we do now has eternal significance.  We must make time now for heavenly things if we ever expect to get there at all.  Although we can only imagine what eternity will be like, I can say that it is much too long to even consider living it without Jesus. 

Each of us decides how we will spend out time on this earth.  Some of us are better at prioritizing than others.  It is not one of my strengths, except when it comes to prayer.  Somehow, God got through my thick skull and convinced me that prayer must come first.  The hour I spend in daily private, personal prayer seems to provide me with more time to get done what must be.  

Occasionally someone will say, “Well, Father, it is easier for you because you are a priest.  You are supposed to pray all the time.”   As a priest, I make a distinction between my personal prayer and my vocation to lead the community in prayer.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen often taught that everyone should make a Holy Hour every day.  Ideally, that would take place in a church in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  However, a Holy Hour can be done at any time in any place.  You may even count your Holy Mass as part of your Holy Hour.  I thought you might find it interesting that Priest, however, are not to count Mass and other Church Services as part of their Holy Hour according to Archbishop Sheen.  

My “vowed” prayer, my vocation to the Priesthood, is for the good of the Church—that’s all of you.  For most of you, your vocation is Matrimony.  You are to love your spouse, care for you families, grow in faith and contribute to society.  All the other business is done in the context of our particular callings.  Prayer is the fuel that keeps it all running smoothly.  Business should never be used as an excuse to omit prayer.   

This became abundantly clear to me when I was in seminary.  Seminary training is quite extensive and demanding.  The day was jammed packed with classes, reading, writing, meetings, duties, community life, seminars, etc. Some of the guys would tease me when I would “run off” to the Blessed Sacrament before any major exam or any big activity that I was responsible for.  Yet they all knew that I would always do my part, usually with a great deal of laughter and joy.  It is not that I never got stressed.  My middle name could be “nervous”.   It is the prayer that got me beyond myself.  It is that time with Jesus that convinced me that He is, indeed, in control of the tasks and the time.  

Making time for prayer makes time for everything else.  Find out for yourselves.

with love and prayer,

fm