Taking Time for God

Over the weekend the Directors of Marist Communities attended a workshop on Holistic Approaches to Leadership and Prayer In Abundance.  It boiled down to the question of how do we find time for God when surrounded by abundance of material goods and "things to do"?  With dwindling numbers, priest and religious are more and more overwhelmed by requests, all legitimate, for help on all fronts.  Achieving a  balance between the need to replenish ourselves and keep ourselves healthy so that we may answer these requests, and the need to respond to them is like walking a tight rope.  The work "NO" came up, a word which always stirs guilt feelings, as well as the need for the "yes", as part of the reason why we are called to the religous life.  All people  who sincerly want to live the Gospel feel this tension, so it is not exclusive to religious.  Our Marist Way follows the example of Mary and her YES that changed the course of human history.  There was no easy answer nor facile conclusion, but the need for time with God to help discern between what is possible and what is not, seemed to be the direction to go.  Quiet time which allows God to speak and us to listen, will help in the decision of what to do and what not to do.  Even finding the time for such quiet is a question.  The image of the "car as the contemporary monastery" offers a solution.  No radio, CD while driving, but aside from paying attention to the road, time in the car cand be time for God.  It has come to this!   But it will do if we take advantage of it.  Try it.
Bro. Rene