When we were small, we all given a valuable instruction that we follow to this day when crossing the street: “look both ways.” This is Advent’s admonition because it invites us to look in two directions: to the past to celebrate the marvel of the Lord’s Nativity—and to the future—to realize that the same Lord born in Bethlehem “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,” as the Creed puts it.
And so, we are urged to be vigilant and alert and not caught unawares. Vigilance demands sustained and focused attention. This is a struggle for most of us. How many times have I struggled to stay awake during prayer—Eucharistic adoration or Rosary? How often have my thoughts drifted off toward other things at Mass. (especially during the homily)?
How often have we been half-hearted in keeping watch over temptations that lead to familiar patterns of sin? These things happen not because spiritual things are boring but because we have used up our finite capacity for attention on lesser things.
In the days of Noah, Jesus tells us, people were too busy to recognize the impending flood. He also points out two men in the field and two women grinding at the mill, one would be taken and the other left.
Carrying out our duties and becoming involved in the affairs of the world are surely important but Our Lord warns us that if we spend all our attention and energies on them, our relationship with him, our spiritual life falls to the wayside. Today I think our Lord might have used different images:
“Two men will be in the office on their laptops; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be scrolling on their iPhones; one will be taken, and one will be left.”
We live in what has been called the “Age of Distraction” in which digital technologies compete for our limited attention. Nine out of ten Americans own a smart phone. Children, on average, get their first phone at 11 years old. By 15, almost all children have a cell phone. On average, Americans spend between 4 and 5 hours a day on their phones and check their phones 144 times a day.
Nearly 57% of Americans consider themselves cell phone addicts. How can we be spiritually vigilant in this “age of distraction” when we sink so much of our time into social media?
We usually consider Lent the season for resolutions and sacrifices. Why not consider an Advent resolution to limit the digital distractions of life and make more time for silence, study, and prayer…more helpful than giving up chocolate!
Holy Spirit, wake us from our inertia, from that state of apathy that prevents us from noticing the good that surrounds us. Illumine our minds and teach us to be vigilant always and to wait with faith for your coming. Help us to understand how precious time is. Help us not to waste it by holding on to resentments, anger, or chasing false needs, but to savor it with gratitude. Help us to spend each day as if it were our last, filling its hours with service, forgiveness, mercy, and listening to those close to us. Grant us, each day the courage to love as you have loved.
