Advent is urgent! There is no time to waste in striving to get on with the work of the kingdom that Our Lord Jesus told us to build. He promises to come back without warning, like a thief in the night. But, hold it! Where and how to I work at the kingdom?
Strangely enough, Jesus told us that the kingdom of God is not here or there. No, the kingdom of God is with in us. Why should we be worrying about maintaining church buildings and coming up with new projects to teach catechism? What if there is simply no more time for that kind of industry? What if He is at the door, knocking? Now!
Jesus wants us to be on tiptoe expecting his arrival, soon. The trouble is that we humans are so easily distracted by pride or anger or lust or greed, along with the rest of the seven deadly sins. We are not getting better at waiting, expecting His return. In an age of proliferation of information and with tempting ways to distract ourselves, we can be nearly comatose. One father complained to me that his son was so addicted to video games that he had to take him to the doctor. The doctor assured the teenager that if he cut down the time he spent on video games, his chronic headaches would resolve. Do you want to know how many hours this youth spent at video games? His father told me that his son spent six or seven hours a day, every day staring at his computer. Forget the headaches. What about the boy’s life? The youth was not developing a social life or even keeping his body healthy. He did not play baseball, soccer, football, basketball. He sat with his eyes and attention on his virtual game.
Andrew Sullivan wrote about internet addiction and how it begins to consume the person who is caught in the internet web with its demands and rewards. He claims the Church should be focusing on the sin of distraction. Our society is totally distracted by trivia, atavars, social media platforms, video porn and video games.
Listening and living with the Church as it begins the trek to Christmas can open the human heart to far more than the virtual reality which distracts us from the coming of the kingdom. Our Father…Thy kingdom come!