Are you distracted right now? Are you even listening to what I am saying or are you daydreaming? But first, what I have been doing all Lent when I preach is a check-in: how is your Lent going? How are you doing with walking with and acting like Christ? What is something that you need to improve or do better at? Now is the time to do it. We are long a couple of weeks away from Easter, so you might want to hurry up. We can do better, and what else can we add to help us walk with and act like Christ?
Imagine, you come to Mass or adoration, or you take time in your day to pray at home or wherever. The moment you sit down, a lot of thoughts start coming to your mind, like what you need to do or what is for dinner, or you forgot to do this thing. I have a feeling this is common to all of us. When we take the time to stop and pray, we are distracted by something.
Unfortunately, this is very common for all of us because we all get distracted easily by the world, by people, by things that we need to do in a day. There is a reason for people to fully leave this world to go to a monastery, so they can try to not get distracted, but they probably still do to some degree. We do not live in a monastery; we cannot escape the world, so what can we do?
Firstly, whatever you were thinking about before you started to pray will not magically disappear because you are praying. So, what you are doing before Mass will affect you. That is why it is good to come to Mass early, so you can start to prepare your mind and heart for God. I find that reading something can help with this or praying the rosary like we do on every Sunday Mass. And every thought that distracts you, try to either push it away or write it down so you do not have to worry about it. This goes with every prayer time that we do. Try to give extra time and try not to rush it.
Secondly, how do we live our lives with God always on our mind and heart? Because the more we can do this, the more we can focus on Him and get away from our natural human distractions like looking at social media instead of praying or being angry or upset or really any sin. If we can start to focus on God in our day, we realize what is most important is not this world but to live in the spirit with God, as St. Paul says in the second reading. How do we pray throughout our day and have God more on our mind and heart?
Thirdly, sin is a big distraction. It is a distraction from us focusing on God, from being with God, from distancing ourselves from God. The more we can remove our sins, of course little by little, the better it is for us to focus on God. At times when we sin, it is hard to remember what our goal is, and that is Heaven.
So, the more we can remove all distraction from our minds and hearts, the better it is for us to think more of God. This world is very distracting and more so today than ever before. So let us walk with Christ for these last two weeks of Lent and focus our minds and hearts on Jesus more so than ever before, so we can be ready for His suffering, death, and resurrection.
Given on Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A