Written by Father Michael
Super Bowl Sunday is over. What a day! Super bowl parties are definitely more relaxed than the family holiday parties. TV’s were blaring all over the house. The large HD TV in the living room had a few seconds delay in transmitting its signal. So those watching the small old TV in the kitchen were ahead of the game. They were able to announce what was worthwhile to hear and see. What was interesting to me was that throughout most of the game the shouts went out “You gotta see this!” during the commercials and half-time entertainment. Super Bowl Sunday seems to be more about the commercials and half-time than the main event, the game, the contest.
No one got serious about the game until the second half.
This seems to be the way most of us live our lives. We allow ourselves to be distracted by the gaudy, commercial, exciting and entertaining. What fun will I have today? What do I need to have fun tomorrow? Where can I go to be entertained? What about today, here and now? We forget that this is all temporary and we are on a journey home to God. It is not about this world and how I can be happy here and now, but about God and how serious we believe that we have a life with God forever and it has begun. It is not something that can BE put off. It is now and what we do now, relates to how it will be.
All those commercials exhort us to want the best and more and more of the best. But they are all geared to something that is temporary and leave us wanting for more or something else. We can never be satisfied buying the “things” in all those commercials. They are all disposable, empty. God is forever and fully satisfying.
God is not empty calories, but fully nourishing and life giving food. God is all we need. God will accept our acquaintance anytime. God will invite us into His home at anytime. However God offers us His friendship and the opportunity for us to become an intimate friend, one of his closest friends. Isn’t this what we truly want?
This Lent we have an opportunity to develop our friendship and become intimate with God. We need to turn off some of the distractions and see what God is really calling us to be. When are we going to start? Where are we on the journey home? This is a time of preparation. How are we, YOU, going to prepare this year? Give yourself the chance to have God as a good friend, maybe even your BEST friend. Don’t wait to make God’s acquaintance, start today. Ash Wednesday is this week, don’t wait until Holy Week to prepare for Easter start now.
Have A Blessed Lent.