Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time…are we giving God any of our time?
I am going to give you two probable scenarios of situations we may have found ourselves in. Imagine the knock at the door or that late afternoon/early evening telephone call. Hello my name is and I work for and before they can get out another word in it’s either click or the sound of the door closing. All of us get frustrated at times by those who come to our door unannounced or those annoying telemarketing calls. Most of the times we want to hang up the phone or find a reason to get someone off our front porch. However, image for a moment the person at our door was the Lord Himself.
Our responsorial psalm for this Sunday is “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” The Lord is calling out to us repeatedly, are we paying attention? Now we began our reflection stating that we can never really give God the time He deserves. That is true. So are we giving God any of our time? For starters, we are all here, and that is a start. But are we really turning ourselves over to the Lord giving Him our full and undivided attention. Maybe we are allowing things that we have to do later in the day get to us. Perhaps you are sitting there wondering how long my homily will be today. Things do distract us! That’s why I encourage all of us to plan on being here for an hour and ten minutes. Five minutes before Mass to allow ourselves time to get settled, allowing some time to clear our minds. Plan an hour for Mass, and finally five minutes after Mass to give thanks. Stop and listen, set some time for the Lord, clear your minds, and you might be surprised the difference it makes.
Now that’s a Sunday, how can we give God some of our time during the week? I want to reiterate that this will look different for everyone. Some may be able to give more time to the Lord depending on their current situation. It’s not always practical for individuals with children and work responsibilities to be able to give the Lord a complete hour, not impossible, but not necessarily practical. So what can we do? First it begins soon as we get up in the morning. Say a morning prayer thanking God for another day to serve in His vineyard and to ask Him for help to get through the day. Before and after you eat, plan on saying your grace before and after meals. When you eat together as a family, make sure you pray these prayers. If you are not in the habit of saying them, make it a point to introduce it into your daily routine. At the end of the day, make sure you make a good act of contrition for the times we may have failed in our actions or even our inactions, say a prayer of thanksgiving, and don’t forget to ask for the opportunity to do it all again tomorrow.
In addition to this I would encourage and invite individuals to stop and pray before making any important decisions. Maybe you are in a situation that is getting you tense, step out of room, turn to the Lord in prayer and ask Him for guidance before you overact. Finally in those most difficult moments there is always a place you can come for to place your care before the Lord and that either here in Church or when the Church is not open our perpetual adoration chapel. Don’t be afraid to enter into the presence of the Lord. These are just some of the ways we can give some time to the Lord during our week. Again this is a suggestion, and it will be different for everyone.
Brothers and sisters, please consider slowing down at some point each day in order to give the Lord some time. Make it a point to let go of those things distracting us, placing them into the Lord’s hands. Prepare yourself for prayer! Set some time aside for the Lord. Open your hearts and clear your mind giving the Lord your undivided attention. Just give yourself over to the Lord, give Him your time, and allow yourselves to be amazed at the difference it can make in one’s life.
Note: Sometimes I tend to deviate from the text as I preach so what is written is not always accurate. I also want to provide the audio along with the text so you can have the context.
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