They asked a famous concert pianist about their practice habits. “Do you ever miss a day practicing?” His answer was interesting: “If I miss a day, no one notices. If I miss two days, I notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices.” The point is: every day matters if you want to keep or increase a talent or skill.
Why? Because everything in life is fluid and changing. If you’re not feeding, strengthening, watching over the house, the garden, your finances, your children, your job, your marriage, your Faith, . . . it diminishes. Nothing stays the same.
The dark auburn hair you had in your twenties is turning grey or leaving all together. The physique you had on the swim team has “matured”. The Spanish you spoke pretty well in high school, and haven’t used, has gone away. Your garden hasn’t been weeded since last June and it’s a mess. Thank heaven you can still ride a bike! (That will go away someday too.)
What are we getting at here? Simply put: if you don’t use it, you lose it. Why? Because things tend to fall apart. That’s just the way it is.
So, if you have something important to you, take care of it.
This applies to our spiritual lives (our life of Faith). We are given this gift at Baptism. It is nourished in the weekly Eucharist and practiced in acts of kindness to others. Or not.
And that’s the point. Faith can weaken unless it is practiced. I’d like a nickel for every time someone has told me, “You know I was an altar server when I was a kid.” Or, “I made my First Communion right here in this church.” Or, “I still have my child’s prayerbook.”
But, they haven’t seen a church in years. Somehow they think the Faith they practiced as children can deal with the complex problems we face as adults.
St. Paul said it well, “ When I was a child, I thought as a child, reasoned as a child, spoke as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1Cor:13. Childish things had served their purpose to launch our life of Faith. But now it must be tended and deepened to properly direct us when so many voices call out to us.
Hospital visits often reveal how people can be stuck in a Faith that can no longer deal with life’s circumstances. For example: a doctor has just delivered the frightening news – - “The cancer has reached stage 4. We’ll do everything we can but there is no guarantee.”
What do you do? God’s been off the radar for some years now. Praying seems awkward and somewhat pointless. There’s a feeling like you missed your flight the ramp is closed and the pilot (God) and the plane have left the terminal. We begin to pray to an unknown God: “God, wherever you are . . . remember me? Once upon a time I was an altar server. Help me!!” Or worse – – - “God how could you do this to me?”
God will help, of course. (“Not a sparrow falls from the sky that is not known by your heavenly Father.” Matt. 10:29) But it’s not the way He wanted it to go down. You see, God wants to journey with us in trust and friendship throughout our life. So that moments like that in the hospital or other times of simple joys or trials would be the ”stuff” we share daily with the Lord.
Because God loves you. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and they know me.” John 10:11.
See you in Church.
Fr. Tim
