I don’t much care for the fact that it is already dark at 8 p.m., that the mornings are a wee-bit cooler ,and that my calendar is already loaded with meeting dates and ministry projects...where did the ease of summer go? Schools are back in session and those dreaded “schedules” now being posted everywhere are taking control of the once, quiet and relaxing days of summer (I know some of you are thinking, if not saying, “what does he mean ‘already started? I’ve been busy all summer!’ I realize my life is much less complicated—being single and having no children—devoid of all the joys and corresponding errands, chores, and schedules that make up modern family life)...but I still feel the entanglement of the dreaded schedules—from school and religious education, to sports and so much more. In the midst of all this busyness—which the world holds up as “fulfillment”—we need to remind ourselves that the more we crowd God out of our daily lives the harder it is to find the true, inner peace. I know that the busier I become the more my prayer life (the breviary, a few minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament, a reading from Sacred Scriptures, some sacred silence away from the TV, the iPad, or the radio) the less peaceful (peace-filled) I become.

As we plan out our day’s routine we need to make sure we save some time for God—even just a short period of time to let Him speak to us, to move our hearts—thus the routine of carving out some sacred space in our days will help us immensely to recharge our “spiritual batteries” or reset that allimportant “Christian compass,” keeping our body, mind and spirit balanced. So whether we are in the boardroom or the classroom, on the playing fields or in the shopping malls, we need to keep close to God—then and only then will our priorities and principles be solid and true. Believe you me, God is on the “sidelines” and He is calling us to Him. In this busy world confusion easily creeps in and “lobbies” us away from our hoped-for values and principles, making it difficult to see through the fog of a hectic world. Add to that a society, that by its nature, can view strong values as “softness” and it is easy to just want to throw your hands up in bewilderment when “bad things happen to good people,” making faith seem hallow. But rather than throwing up our hands in exasperation, God wants us to get our hands “dirty” in His work—becoming His instruments of compassion, hope and action. That can only happen when we look to the sidelines, see God and spend a little sacred time with Him.