facing the challenges in a familylife...

May the Holy Angels guide you and your family to a righteous path...Happy New Year to all...from your Dom lawrence, OSB

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family.
Whether we live alone or have a dozen faces gathered round our dinner table, we all belong to God's big family. And like it or not, our ability to thrive, and indeed our salvation, depend on how well we learn to live in family.

We have immense power for bringing good and evil into each others' lives. The simplest things we say and do can change the course of whole days or even years, sometimes poisoning them, sometimes enriching them immeasurably. And the same is true in reverse. The people we choose to connect with and the people we're just thrown in with can change us, sometimes in major ways, for good or ill.

Our ability to change others and to be changed by them confronts us with two crucial questions. First, what are our words and deeds saying and doing to those around us? Are they saying, "I value you and I want to help you have a good life"?

Or perhaps, "It's survival of the fittest! Have a nice day if you can"? Are we becoming life-givers or life-robbers?

Secondly, what are we receiving from others?
The question is not, what are folks saying and doing in our regard, but rather, what part of what they say and do are we taking in?

Some of the folks around us are sending some pretty ugly stuff, but we don't have to receive it and take it in. We can mark it "Return to Sender."
On the other hand, by their words and deeds, some folks are sending us some tremendously valuable gifts. Are we receiving those good gifts or are they being lost to us forever?

Deciding what to send to others by who we are and what we do, and deciding what to receive from others, are crucial decisions that shape our very center and then feed back into our family and every one of our friendships.

In giving us the power to make those decisions, God has given us a share in His own power to create what is good, true, and beautiful.

Use that power wisely.

Jesus, I don't care...

Hey! Jesus, yesterday, I celebrated your birthday. Though I already lost count of your age, I know that wherever you are now, you must be feeling glad and delighted that I was able to celebrate your great day with my brothers in my community.

I don’t care if I got so exhausted in baking six giant turkeys the night before your birthday and I don’t care if I had to stay behind at the kitchen when all else had gone to bed already after we said a Solemn Mass at midnight in celebration of your birthday.

I don’t care if I had to be the first one to wake up at four o’clock in the wee hours of the morning on the day of your birth to continue preparing the food that will be served at the banquet table in Your honor when all everybody else were still sleeping soundly and cozily on their beds until seven thirty in the morning.

I don’t care if I had to stay in the kitchen with no break at all to sit or stretch my back from four in the morning until one forty five in the afternoon to do the escabeche fish with all the garnishings, the turkey’s gravy, sautéed beans, baked the stuffings and set the banquet with two giant heavy coolers filled with canned softdrinks, canned beers and bottled white wines.

I don’t care if in the afternoon of your big day, I had to be on a rush to set the refectory table immediately after our Solemn Vespers for the evening party of my community of Benedictine monks in which I belong and for our neighboring Benedictine nuns who joined us in Your honor.

I don’t care if the Abbot of my community had to give me errand to set the light meal for the guests who were not included in the evening party at the very moment when I was still at the pantry and was actually putting out the party drinks, and party stuffs for the community.

I really don’t care if I suffered leg cramps while the evening party in your honor went on because of continuous standing in the kitchen for ten long hours without taking any break or taking a much needed seat even for a single minute.

I don’t care if towards the end of the party, I had to put away the party foods, party drinks, put way left over foods and washed pots and pans, with very less assistance from the brothers who were just too carried away from their unending and non-stop chats with the nuns and guests and from their getting so much overwhelmed of the ambience of the celebration of your birthday.

I don’t care really if I failed to take pictures of the entertainment numbers that were presented in the program of the evening party simply because I couldn’t even stand up and move anymore from where I was seated due to leg cramps I was suffering.

I did not really care about all these anymore.
I didn’t care anymore because at that moment, what I really cared about was the fact that I did all those acts of sacrifices as my offering and gift to You on the day of Your birth.

On the other hand, I thank you Jesus as I am about to come to the end of this year.
Yes, I thank and praise You for all the people around me who have been angels to me all these long.

I thank you and praise You for all the people who have spoken God’s words to me. Friends, loved ones, even strangers.

People who told me what to do when I was most confused and overwhelmed. People who encouraged me when I was discouraged. People who boosted my morale when I was down and vulnerable.

Thank You Jesus for all the people who have been instruments of Your grace to me. For the people who continually remind me of Your loving grace. For the people who constantly remind me to be good and to strive to be holy.

Lord let me learn from their goodness. As they have been angels to me, may I , in turn, be angel to them. May I, in turn, be an angel not only to the good and kind people but to the bad and wicked people as well.

May I, in turn, speak Your word to encourage and enlighten not only the good people, not only the kind and generous people, not only the grateful people, not only the compassionate people, not only the hardworking people, but the otherwise.

I lift up to You these people in gratitude, in praise, in thanksgiving.

As I kneel before You, I ask You a second grace. That I may speak Your Word, that I may share Your blessings, and that I may offer you my weaknesses and vulnerability.

Jesus, make me an angel to others.

a gift I will not waste...

Today we celebrate the biggest surprise that God ever gave us: His very own Son, Jesus, who came to help us find our way home.

When God made us, He made us good, every last one of us. But we weren't finished, just barely started!

Each of us has the lifetime task of growing into the persons God always dreamed we'd be. But as we've all discovered, it's not a task we can do alone.

On our own, we get stuck in an endless cycle of trial and error, trial and error! Eventually, we lose heart and give up.

That's not what God wants. So He sent Jesus to give us back our hearts; to give us hope that all our striving is going somewhere; to pick us up, dust us off, take us by the hand, and show us the way home.

Jesus came to save our lives. And now today He needs to hear from us: "Thank you, Jesus. I promise I won't waste your gift."

Happy birthday Jesus!!!!!!!

a friendly reminder to all 'BALIKBAYANS'

this was sent to me by one of my friends
which could be deemed very, very useful for
all of you who love to visit our homeland...
'better safe than sorry', take care and GOD BLESS!!!


U.S. Immigration , US Dept. of Homeland Security & TRAVEL ADVISORY
This information is very alarming and I think it's worth sharing to save you from trouble and embarrassment.

A Filipino friend shared this email. His friend who works for Homeland security as Immigration Inspector at LAX ( Los Angeles International Airport ) called him yesterday to share the information that happened last weekend. A FIL-AM citizen who was flying to the Philippines for vacation was apprehended by an Airport Immigration agent while she was checking in her baggage and going through the X-ray machine. For some reason, she was randomly checked and was told to open all the envelopes inside her carry-on Coach bag.

They found 10 envelops addressed to different people in the Philippines. When all the envelops were opened, a total of $11,000 cash was discovered. They asked the traveller if she knew the contents of the envelope. She said no, because all the envelopes are just "padala" and the senders didn't tell her whether or not there was money inside.

Immigration agents showed her a Policy and guidance stating that it is illegal to import and export over $10,000 in any Asian countries to prevent the possibility of supporting terrorism.

She was fined $500, her name was "red labeled" by Immigration (means every time she enters and exits the airport, she will be searched 100%),and she also missed her scheduled flight to the Philippines for being held almost 5 hours. Hard to believe that departing passengers from the U.S. are also subject to the policy but looks like it is being strictly enforced now.

The lessons learned is before you accept any "padala", make sure the envelopes are open and you physically see the contents of it or just plainly say "sorry but I can't accept any padala" for your own safety.


This email came from a former U.S. Embassy employee and this could be useful to all balikbayans

Subject: TRAVEL ADVISORY FROM AMERICAN EMBASSY MANILA
Please share this with your friends and relatives.
Please be informed of the recent travel advisory to the United States.
However, not only pirated VCDs/DVDs are on the hot list. Customs officials are also looking into fake bags like Louis Vuitton, Coach, etc. Please be informed that the American Association of Publishers (AAP) has also alerted the American customs officers to check out for pirated books. This information; was given to me by Patricia Judd of the AAP.

Please warn all nursing graduates who plan to take the NCLEX and CGF exams in the States not to bring in these pirated books because there will be a penalty of automatic deportation as violation of intellectual property rights. If you know anyone going from the Philippines and coming back to the USA , with "pasalubongs" and "padalas," please read this important enclosed advisory from the American Embassy in Manila.

Please share with your friends.
Just a friendly reminder: if you have plans of going to the U.S.,please take precautionary measures on all "padalas," especially those containing fake/pirated compact discs/DVDs. US Embassy employees have been given an advisory that as US Gov't employees, we should abide by the U.S.laws, including Intellectual Property Rights (anti-piracy) laws.

As an additional incentive, the Consular Section recently received a report that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) searched the bag of a Filipino entering the U.S. on NW 72 in Detroit.

During the search, 70-80 compact discs, 30-40 empty DVD jackets and 10-20 DVDs were found. Since the travellers were not American citizens, their visas were cancelled and they returned to the Philippines .

If they had been Americans, they could have been subjected to arrest and criminal prosecution in addition to civil fines and penalties.
Please remember even ONE pirated item can jeopardize your trip. Also, the fingerprinting system has successfully been instituted in all port of entries. I suggest you bring extra identification cards in addition to your passport to facilitate your entry in the US Immigration. I hope this is helpful to you.

Sunday Reflections on the Third week of Advent...Making the Right Choice!

Choosing. this human act is very familiar to each one of us. We make lots of choices often, if not daily.

The act of choosing is very evident in this Season's scripture readings.

There is a reading from the book of Genesis that records the fact that Adam and Eve made a choice to eat from the tree of which God had forbidden them to eat; they chose to disobey their Lord and Creator and thereby committed the first sin — original sin.

But God chose to send a future Savior and Messiah, who would undo the effects of this sin. St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians, affirms that God chooses us in Christ "to be holy and without blemish before him," destining us, again by His choice, "for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ."

An account from the reading of St. Luke's Gospel projects before us the Annunciation scene wherein we see and hear God's choosing Mary to be the Mother of His only-begotten Son, and Mary's choosing to do what God asks her, to obey His will - unlike Adam and Eve.

As I mentioned, every day we make choices. However, one act of choosing — one of our many choices — is absolutely crucial as we try to live as the adopted sons and daughters of God: are we choosing to be like Jesus and to do God's will?

Does Mary's response echo in our choice: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word"?

We are early in this new Church year, which started on Dec. 2, on the First Sunday of Advent and today is the third Sunday of Advent as you see the third candle on the Advent wreath being lit.

Are we consciously choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to form us into Christ's image more clearly this year? The purpose of each Church year is to complete the formation of the faithful during the various seasons.

Are we choosing each day to imitate the example of our Blessed Mother, who placed her life at the service of God's plan?

Yes, God prepared her for her vocation as the Mother of His Divine Son by giving her His divine grace at the first moment of her existence. She was from conception, so to speak, "already baptized," "full of grace" as the angel Gabriel stated. This is the meaning of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

At our baptism, we received for the first time God's own life, divine grace. Are we choosing to avoid sin and to grow in God's grace through prayer, the reception of the sacraments and charitable outreach to the poor and needy?

Are we choosing to make time this Advent season to "prepare the way of the Lord," to make our souls more ready to receive the Lord Jesus as we relive His birth among us at Christmas? What prevents Jesus from being "at home" within our hearts? What needs to be removed? What needs to be added?

Friday Reflections on the 1st Week of Advent: The offer

It’s a day before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and as our preparation for tomorrow’s great Feast, let us reflect on some thoughts about Mary.
Let us mull over the fact that if Mary had not said yes, then the taking on of human form of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity would not be fulfilled.

Now, that does mean that because Mary said yes, we are already saved? Does that mean that it is Mary who saves us?

No!

Then what does it mean?

It simply means that salvation is not only God’s gift to us, it is also our response to God’s invitation.
In the same sense that even if Mary dreamed, in all her sleeping and walking hours to be the mother of God, but if God had not willed it, she would not be the mother of God.

In the same way, if God wanted to take human form, and then the human form refused to cooperate, then God cannot take human form.

So, salvation is actually God’s initiative, God’s gift to us, and then our response to God’s initiative.

If God does not offer, there will be no salvation. If human does not accept, there will be no salvation.

That’s why in Theology we say, God’s gift to us is also our task. When God gives us something, He also challenges us to maximize that blessing.

The plan to make the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, a person, a human being like all of us, was offered to us.

Mary was free to say no or to say yes. Because she said yes, salvation became possible for us.

Continually we are being offered to become mother of Jesus. Continually we are being offered the opportunity to give birth to Jesus. Each time we talk, each time we plan, each time we act. Continually we are being offered to become instruments of the Lord being born into the world. But that offer has to be accepted.

We have to cooperate with the offer being given to us. Then the beautiful story of salvation begins.

Let us thank God today for His offer of salvation.

At the same time, we will acknowledge our failure, our fear, our shame to accept that offer. Some of us are afraid, some of us are lazy, some of us are scared about making a leap into the dark. We will ask Mary today to ask the Father to bless us with the same generosity that She showed to God so that the salvation that happened when the angel Gabriel announced to Her that She would be the mother of God, the same salvation can happen to us.

Thursday Reflections on the 1st Week of Advent…What makes You happy?

I will be turning 51 by Dec. 13th. An older man (than me) approached me while I was accompanying two monk brothers doing their shopping at Wal-mart last Tuesday and the man recognized me, held my face between his hands and said, “ you are young, by the time you are 50 you will realize that all people are unhappy”. He mistook me as younger than my age. I replied by saying, “ oh thank you very much sir, but I will be turning 51 on the 13th and I am happy!. We parted ways with a smile on my face.

I will never forget what the man told me because I found it so pessimistic. “By the time you are 50 you will realize that all people are not happy”. That was a very strong remark.

Some of us are already 40, 50, or 60. Try asking yourself, “Am I really happy with the way I am living my life now?”

Young people look for happiness. The temptation for most of the youth is lust. They consider acquiring happiness by sexual expression, by sensuality, by porn materials, by pre-marital sex, by masturbation. That is the problem to most of the youth.

But when people reach the middle age, the appetite for sex diminishes, the libido cools off, and then what tales over is the lust for power.

At middle age, we think we can be happy with our diplomas. That’s why most of us in the middle age seek doctorate degrees. For those who cannot make their thesis, they work for honorary doctorates. Some of us think that we can be happy by our titles, by the titled positions that people confer on us.

Some people think they can be happy with the power that they carry in their hands or through the guns that they keep in their houses. Some think that their happiness can come from the cars that they drive everyday. And sadly enough, after realizing that sex is not the root of their happiness, middle aged people realize that power cannot cannot bring them happiness either.

So, at old age, what takes over us?

The problem of the young people is lust, the problem of the middle-aged people is ambition, the problem of the old people, of the dying people is avarice.
“I’m about to retire, I better prepare. I am about to retire, I have to make sure that I am taken cared of in terms of my housing, in terms of my hospitalization. I am not sure if my children will give me a fitting burial. I better take charge and get my memorial plan. I better take charge of my bank account that should be big enough, otherwise, they will not take care of me because they will not get anything from me.”

And then people still die unhappy because they realize that happiness cannot be found in the security that memorial plans offer.
People realize that happiness cannot be found in several bank accounts. People realize that happiness cannot be found in a secure hospitalization insurance.

Are we happy?
The Lord’s desire is that we all be happy. But happiness cannot be found in sex, in an earthly power, in large amount of money kept. It can only be found in God- in Jesus Christ.

It is very simple to analyze, some of us are young, some of us are middle-aged, others are retired. Where does our search for a real happiness lie?

Have a blessed Thursday to all of you…

thoughts to ponder on the first week of Advent

We have begun the great and holy season of Advent, a yearly time of renewal and focus of our faith.

If you really need to be reminded about the true spirit of Christmas, the following thoughts may help you find and experience a worthy 'wait'.

Advent is a season of preparation.
It is not a season of penance per se; it is that only to the extent that penance may be an element of preparation for the coming of the Great King.

It is, rather, a season of focus on something interior, something hidden, if you will, to get to know it better; it is much like a woman focusing on a pregnancy for nine months.

At first she takes it on the faith of a pregnancy test that there is a new baby developing inside of her. She cannot feel the baby, but she knows by certain signs, i.e., changes in her own body and emotions, that he is there.

As time goes on, she begins to feel him more distinctly and can have a more direct relationship with him who she cannot see — yet.

As she waits to give birth, she focuses more on the baby and can be continually aware of his presence, consciously or subconsciously.

At the end of nine months, she finally sees with her own eyes the one whose presence she previously had to discern by signs and feelings!

Advent is like that. It is a time to re-establish our focus on that hidden Presence within which we do not always see as a concrete reality. To paraphrase Pope Leo the Great many centuries ago, Christ's first coming was seen by the people of His day after long preparation.

His second coming will be seen by all creation after long ages are finished. It is His third coming which Advent prepares us for; namely, His personal coming into the heart of every Faithful in every day and age. That is something that only the Faithful himself can prepare for, and that is why the Church gives us a whole season to prepare for it.

And how do we prepare best for His coming? Simply by praying more.

That may sound trite, but it is meant as a true spiritual challenge. The type of prayer we seek in Advent is not just a pious thought of God every now and then or a petition to heaven in a moment of need.

Those are fine, but they are not enough. Advent prayer is a deep reflection on the sacred mysteries of our salvation, something that needs time and repetition to bear fruit.

We cannot appreciate such a mystery as God becoming man unless we have a serious commitment to prayer.

Prayer of this sort is a discipline of the will (i.e., the deepest core of the person).

It is a conscious decision to stop what one is doing and put oneself outside of the regular day-to-day travail so to enter a realm of grace and pure light.

With reason, Jesus told His disciples to go into their rooms, close the door and pray to their Father "in secret." He was telling them to make the conscious decision to free their souls of the work-a-day mindset and submit their consciousness to a radical, transforming encounter with the Lord — every day.

The real discipline of the Christian life, especially in a season of spiritual "preparation," is the discipline of prayer.

It comes down to a decision — made every day — to let go of our passionate involvement in the things of the world, as necessary as these things are, and to go into the inner sanctum of the heart, one-on-one, alone with the Lord.

That is where we become transformed, interiorly, by grace and see things as God sees them.

That is where we really prepare to meet Christ in a new way at Christmas.

Here is my Advent challenge: pray every day during Advent, and you will be treated to a Christmas in which you "see" Christ like never before.

my reflections on the first Sunday of Advent

Don’t be in a hurry for Christmas...
Today is the first day of Advent and from the point of view of the Church, it is the time for prepare for Christmas.

Since it is the preparatory period for Christmas, it is the time to consider ourselves preparing for the coming of the Lord at the end of time and the time to remember His birthday two thousand and seven years ago.

It is the time that we spend in preparing that makes His birthday celebration very special.

Unfortunately, in my country, as I experienced in the past , for most of us Filipinos, we start Christmas as early as October and when Christmas day comes, we find ourselves tired, bankrupt and drunk.

We dive into the Christmas fever with much external preparation and in the process rob ourselves of a meaningful Yuletide.

How many Christmases have we celebrated and how many December 26s have we found ourselves pennyless, lonely, bored, drained, with severe hangover from liquor and from lack of sleep?

But December 26 is only the second day of Christmas!

Why so?

Because we plunged into Christmas hurriedly, and pushed by the current and popular tide, we felt we were lost and confused as we allowed ourselves to get carried away by the popular crowd. We were carried away by what the others were doing and not really by what we wanted to do.

When Advent becomes a noisy period, the secret and mystery of Christmas is also lost. When Advent becomes a frenzy period of parties and shopping, Christmas also loses its golden value that only prayer and silence and slowing down can achieve.

When we can no longer live with the Christmas spirit in the heart, then we start to give Christmas in the lips, in the songs, in the parties and in the shopping.

Christmas is in the heart, in the heart where Jesus lives. When God wanted to make a paradise for man, He created a garden. But when God wanted to make a paradise for Himself, He created the human heart. Every human heart is God’s paradise here on earth.

It is in the heart where Christmas is born.

The sound of Christmas...
Just for today, let’s reflect on one simple aspect of Christmas.

What is the sound of Christmas to you? Maybe for some, it is the sound of Christmas carols; Silent Night, Joy to The World, Jingle Bells etc.

For the less spiritual, the sound of Christmas is the clinking of cash registers in the shopping malls.

For others, it is the sound of children playing and laughing innocently.

Still for others, the sound of Christmas is one of endless applause. We associate Christmas with sounds.

What is the sound of Christmas? I guess, this question is erroneous because Christmas has no sound!

Christmas means the Word of God was made flesh.

How was Jesus conceived in the womb of Mary? There was no noise. This was done in silent, prayerful contemplation.

How was Jesus born in the manger on that first Christmas night? It was in silence. The angels came later on. Everything was done in prayerful contemplative silence. The Word became flesh in silence.

If our Christmas celebration is purely going to be singing, partying, clapping and noise making, we will hardly appreciate the mystery of the Word becoming flesh.

We will have family reunions and school and office parties for the next two weeks. We will enjoy good food and the company and well wishes of our students, co-teachers, office mates, friends and loved ones. But give your time to the Word to take flesh.

Give time for some contemplative silence with nobody talking to you, with nothing to listen, with nothing to read, and with nothing to watch. Just be with God in a contemplative silence. Then and only then, can the Word become flesh. And then and only then, you can experience the real Christmas in your heart!

Give ourselves a good Christmas. Let us allow the Word to take real flesh.

Have a blessed First Sunday of Advent to all of you my friends.

I am not gonna give up on Christmas

when to give up and when not to give up...
My thoughts for today are so mixed-up between interlacing points of view of the Scripture that I read in my quiet time (Lectio Divina).
I heard clearly the words of the Scripture, and I guess time and again, they are encouraging me never to give up.

But today, the Lord is teaching me that sometimes, I have to give up. Jesus Christ is admonishing me to ceremoniously shake-off the dust from my hands and feet should matters refuse to go with me.

My issue here is that as soon as I realize everything humanly has been done, after all the efforts I made had been exhausted yet nothing has happened, I guess I must entrust the whole matter to God and not crack my head and break my heart over it anymore.

I can try and try so hard, maybe to the point of going crazy, getting bipolar syndrome, or worse-making myself sick, but I must remember that all my efforts and hardship for this and that are futile because all are under the control and work of God.

I must recognize then when to give up and when not to give up. It is difficult but I must try.

Of course, it is part of my salvation never to give up doing what is good. But it is also part of my salvation to know and recognize when to give up because despite all of my human efforts which have been exerted, I must realize that only God accomplish the business for me. It is wise to know when to give up and when not to give up. It keeps me focused on God.

The problem with me is, sometimes I give up when I should not, and sometimes I don’t give up when I should have done it so long ago.- I guess I need to acquire this wisdom.

Anyhow, and for sure, I am not gonna give up on Christmas!...

So today, let me invite you to join me as I ask God for the grace to know what I can change and the grace to know what I cannot change. What I can change, I must continuously work for. What I cannot change, I must not take it upon myself, instead let me surrender to God who alone can accomplish the impossible.

Have a blessed weekend to all of you.

stay awake, let not the noonday devil devours you...

The Church's monastic tradition sees as one of the most dangerous enemies of the spiritual life what the psalmist calls "the noonday devil" (Ps 91:6). We, monks, took this phrase as an apt description of the lethargy or fatigue we battled at about midday.

By that time, we had already risen early for prayers, returned to prayer a number of times, and still had a good chunk of the day ahead of us. We were tired, of course, but not just physically. We were spiritually tired — weary of prayer, exhausted with the things of God.

The noonday devil precipitated thoughts of "What's the use? This is pointless." Thus, in the Eastern tradition, Psalm 91 was prayed at midday, to ask for strength against this assault. "Stay awake," Our Lord says (Mt 24:42).

And we can hear His words as a warning against the noonday devil. They echo the psalmist's plea for wakefulness: "Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death ... Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps 13:3; 119:18).

Our Lord and the psalmist both refer not to physical sleep (our bodies need rest at some point) but to that spiritual drowsiness and slumber that deaden us to God's presence, goodness and truth.

Once we have fallen asleep spiritually, then all kinds of mischief creep into our souls. Dozing off spiritually brings about a much greater destruction than falling asleep at the wheel.

Stay awake." Our Lord's words caution us against sloth — that capital vice that brings about spiritual slumber.

Sloth is not, as many think, simple laziness (although that is usually a side-effect). Instead, it is a sadness about the good set before us, a boredom with the things of God, a failure to respond with the proper repentance, joy, zeal or love to God's works and goodness.

Sloth is a spiritual "ho-hum" or "whatever" in the face of Christ crucified. Once this spiritual languor sets in, we can easily become lazy louts — because we see no reason to make an effort.

But the slothful monk can also be tremendously busy. He fills his time with activities to avoid the difficulty of reflection and thought, of facing his sadness with the divine.

This describes our culture as well.

We are constantly on the go, but at the same time bored with the most important things. We rush around in what we call the "real world," as a way of avoiding that most important reality.

We resemble the people in the days of Noah: "they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away" (Mt 24:38-39). They did not know. They were busy enough, alright, but asleep to the very things that matter. And in the end their slumber undid them.

We do not need to look far to find sloth's damaging effects.

Sloth first robs us of the energy needed for the moral life, so we fall into sin more easily.

Further, spiritual boredom leads us to seek pleasure elsewhere, in various forms of immorality.

If God's works bore us, we will find our happiness in lesser things and make them gods.

Sloth also deadens our sense of morality because the drama of good and evil, of right and wrong, tires us. So sloth not only deters us from seeking moral excellence, it also keeps us from perceiving moral truth.

"Stay awake." Our Lord wants us to avoid spiritual slumber.

The solution is simple, but not easy. It demands, first, that we fill our minds with thoughts of the divine.

The many trivial, worldly thoughts we take in each day leave little room for the supernatural thoughts that inspire us.

Accordingly, the battle against sloth demands perseverance in prayer — not just reciting prayers, but mental prayer.

We need to reflect deliberately and often on the truths of our faith, the attributes of God, the events of our Lord's life, etc.

And when, not if, we grow tired, we need to look to Our Lord and push through the difficulty. We need to remain with Him and not fear the one who lays waste at noon...