5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Sunday 10th February 2019
Modern Addicts!
We all have this problem to some extent but for most of us the cause is easy to diagnose; we are addicts. Our addictions are not to drugs or alcohol but to media and "busyness". On waking we turn on a radio or TV. Later we immerse ourselves in newspapers or plug our ears with headphones and engage in frenetic activity to demonstrate how busy we are. Where in this scenario is there time for myself, my family and my friends? Healthy living calls for a reasonable amount of time being spent on all three; we lose sight of our inner self and fail to nurture the key relationships we need to be truly human.
A Time for Resolutions
At the start of a new Springtime we need to do more than make a vague resolution to do better. We need to make a decision to take back control of our days. Much of our media intake is unimportant and transient. We need to be selective in our management of time if we are to live ordered lives. Only the individual can do this for themselves. So today, tomorrow and for each day this week we should start, bit by bit, to take back control of our lives. It will not be an easy task as everyone who has faced up to any addiction will acknowledge but each day will give us a fresh start on the road to recovery.
My identity lies in my “busyness”
‘Busy’ is seen as a mark of virtue and underpins our sense of being indispensable without reference to the value of what we are doing. Superficially, only we can judge what is necessary as opposed to a smokescreen we use to sustain the human dynamo illusion. We are deluding ourselves as well as those around us. So we must step back and examine our activity against our objectives and calmly plan our actions. We can thus save time for what is also important both in the workplace and in our private lives.
Making room for prayer
What about prayer? Well, that's the subject of next week’s note by which time we may have found some new time we have won back from our unhelpful dependencies and share that out on things that really matter.
From a Parishioner
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