ADVENT WISH LIST

We all have heard of Christmas wish list.  Schools have them, parishes have them. businesses have them, children and grand kids have them.

Everyone has a list of things they would like to experience or receive at Christmas.

Fine!

I have an advent wish list I'd like to share with you.

Jesus in today's gospel tells us to stay awake.  Do not be distracted and thus caught off guard and unaware like the people of Noah's time.

So do we stay awake  and keep vigilant. Red bull or 5 hour energy drink can certainly keep us physically attentive but what about interiorly being alert and ready.

I have done some calculations and i think we should tithe our time.

We often hear about tithing our financial resources, which i still think should be done as sign of trust to almighty God and a help to the church as he seeks to build programs for faithfulness, but do we tithe our time.

We think about the one hour a week the church says is a minimal obligation as we gather at mass with the community seeking to keep holy the Lord's day.  But what about the rest of the days and hours and minute we have?

I figure, if my math is correct, their are 10080 minutes in one week.  If we tithe that, that is take 10 percent of that and gift it to God, then we are left with 1008 minutes in a week.  If we divide that by 7 then we get 144 minutes per day dedicated intentionally to God and his purpose and our transformation.

If we take that 144 minutes and divide that by 24 then we get roughly 6 minutes an hour, which i know could had been factored simply by dividing 60 by 10 but what fun would that have been.

So if we are to tithe our time then 6 minutes of every hour should be intentional directed toward God.  Maybe we sit silently for 6 minutes or we say a decade of the rosary for 6 minutes or we read form scripture for 6 minutes or we offer prayers for 6 minutes or we dedicated what ever we are doing at the time for the glory of God intentionally for the 6 minutes allotted.

If we do this them we will be attentive, awake, vigilant; we will walk int he presence of the lord in the land of the living and this is how we prepare ourselves daily.

What i invite you to do is keep a chart of your time of prayer throughout the advent season.  Call to mind God's presence 6 minutes on the hour, every hour, while you are awake.  Don't worry about when you are sleeping, we will let the guardian angels take over at those times of the day.

Don't be like the people of Noah's time, unaware, unprepared, and washed away. Distracted they found themselves the last to know.  There is much in our life that distracts us, but for t least 6 minutes an hour we can be attentive.

Set you phone to ring every hour and practice the presence of God.

IT is often said if you take God with you when you go, then it will affect where you go and how you get there; may it be so.