Resurrecting Chicago

I used to hear that some older people start to talk to themselves– out loud. I didn’t think much about it until I began noticing it in  myself.  It started with a random thought to do something and I found myself saying out loud,  ” I hope this works.”  Out loud! Who do I think I am talking to? (Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition which is against some English law of grammar.  About that law Winston Churchill famously said: “That’s the type of stuff up with which I will not put.”)

Sometime this year, I gave up trying to control myself.  I just give voice to whatever comment or question seems appropriate at the  time. Today, I blurted out some expletive to this very computer and, of course it did not respond. One of my friends said that he likes to question himself out loud when he wants to hear an expert opinion.

I think I only talk to myself when I am alone in the house, but I’m not sure. no one has yet told me, “Do you know that you’re talking to yourself?” I guess it will happen some day. I’ll be focused om some thing I’m doing and say “I guess I’ll go over there.” A friend will say, “Who are you talking to?” (Churchill again) I’ll mumble an answer which tries to excuse the habit by saying, “I was just thinking out loud about this.” And, my friend would say, “Oh….”

Talking out loud to yourself reflects aloneness.  There is no one else to talk to. (Winston, again.)  Wait!  I take that back.  I talk to Our Lord out loud often during the day.  I sing His songs for Him and praise Him out loud.  Not that I am always assured that he is listening because I sing by Faith. He doesn’t talk to me in a familiar voice that I can hear, either.  Instead there is sometimes a commotion in my soul that doesn’t echo what I have said but responds with a sense of His presence which in turn reminds me that I am never alone.

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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!