Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 21: 34-36

Pope Francis suggests to develop these two attitudes to live the time between now and Christmas. To be mindful and to pray. Have you ever experienced lack of direction and restlessness in life? It could be the result of our self-centeredness lack of concern for others. We are so focussed on our individual projects and plans and we forget to be mindful of the needy brother or sister in our neighbourhood, whom we come across on the streets. We are being blocked by our own lives, with its problems, its joy, and suffering, and we are always turning around ourselves. “I … me and mine,” that’s all what concerns me. But this attitude destroys the virtues charity and empathy; it makes one’s life so dull and drives us away from hope. The root of the lethargy and laziness that the Gospel speaks about begins with our self-centred and selfish attitude. The season of Advent invites us to a commitment to vigilance, looking beyond ourselves, expanding our mind and heart in order to open ourselves up to the needs of brothers and sisters, and to the desire for a new world. It is the desire of many people tormented by hunger, by injustice and by war. It is the desire of the poor, the weak, the abandoned. This is a favourable time to open our hearts, to ask ourselves concrete questions about how and for whom we expend our lives. The Gospel is a caution: “Pray constantly” is the invitation. We await Jesus in prayer and vigilance. Praying, awaiting Jesus, opening oneself to others, being mindful, not withdrawn to ourselves. Speaking at the general audience on May 19 this year, Pope Francis spoke of three enemies of prayer: distractions, spiritual dryness, and sloth. “Praying is not easy: many difficulties present themselves in prayer. It is necessary to know them, recognize them and overcome them,” he said. Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins because “it can lead to the death of the soul.” The pope urged the faithful to fight against distractions, developing the often-forgotten virtue of vigilance. Throughout the Gospels Jesus urged his disciples to practice this virtue. In a moment that we do not know, the voice of our Lord will resound: on that day, blessed will be those servants whom He will find industrious, still focused on what really matters. True progress in the spiritual life consist in being able to persevere in difficult times. The pope asks us to “Learn to pray like the biblical figure of Job, protesting at God’s actions. We too, who are far less holy and patient than Job, know that in the end, at the end of this time of struggles , knowing that God will answer our prayers.”