Fr. Don's Daily Reflection
“Be watchful, pray constantly, that you may be worthy to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
This essential Advent theme would, of course, fit any time of the year. Sudden deaths of people in their prime, of young children, the appearance of cancer in ourselves or a loved one -- all these remind us to live more mindfully, with more awareness of what lies or lives all around us. In the same context as the opening line Jesus says, “Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares” (34). We hear often about the good of simplifying our lives, and usually we mean getting rid of unnecessary possessions, objects. In what we've just quoted from Jesus is reference to another form of this: Be on guard against worldly cares.
We need to be sure of our vision of what is important in life, that we are living for is clear. The worries and concerns of human life can obscure our vision and our purpose. A sixteen-year-old with cancer or the loss of a job for those who support a family, these are legitimate cause for concern and, it is to be hoped, for constant prayer. But worldly care means our anxiety about keeping up with fashions or the neighbors, our fussing about the nonessentials of life. These we can profitably forget in order to reduce the clutter in our lives, to help us focus on what life is really about.