November 18, 2022

Dear Friends,

         And just like that it is almost noon. I know this is a weird way to start a letter, but I think we have all had days like this! We start our day by doing some very basic things that we need to do and suddenly, our day is over and for the life of us, we cannot figure out how we got here. The normal response to something like that happening is, that’s just life. It is a very true statement; however, I think there are times in which we need to be cognizant of what we need to do and how we are doing it.

         It is easy to get distracted. It is easy to let other things get in the way of life. It can be easy to prioritize certain things over others because, in the moment, we feel it needs to be the most important. The reality is that we need to be open to reprioritizing things and fighting for it. Let me give you an example from left field. Mother’s Day occurs every year. We know that it is happening. We get excited for it. If you talk to any parent who has a child involved in different sporting activities, I am going to hazard a guess that when asked about Mother’s Day, plans include church, breakfast, brunch, and a (insert sport name here) tournament. Every parent bemoans the tournament, especially on Mother’s Day, but they sign-up and go. We allow things to have more power and they become accepted and creep fully into our lives.

         I am not purposely singling out sports, it is across the board with any type of extracurricular. A particular event, game, activity has become something we are powerless to reign-in because we do not think we have control. Whether it is work, school events, sports events, extra curriculars, etc., these things only have power (so to speak) because we allow it. We really need to slow down to find what we are missing. 

         Throughout the course of the day, do you slow down to pray? Do you slow down to thank God for the blessings you have been given? How often do we thank our family and friends for dealing with the normal or crazy that is us? As we are getting closer to Advent, as we are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s pump the brakes on some of the things that we are dealing with and try to take that time for ourselves, our families, and especially for our faith. Do not let every day be one of those in which we question how the heck it turned into noon, 2:00, or 8:00?  Find balance and slow things down. 

God Bless, 

Fr. Brian

P.S. Which days are the strongest? Saturday and Sunday. The rest are weekdays.