{"id":29797,"date":"2017-04-27T18:21:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=29797"},"modified":"2017-04-29T15:59:26","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T19:59:26","slug":"god-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/god-first\/","title":{"rendered":"God First","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\n for April 27th, 2017
\nThursday of the Second Week of Easter<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts\u00a0here<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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I\u00a0<\/b>don\u2019t think it\u2019s just me.\u00a0I hear it from both young and old: time seems to be speeding up<\/i>. And with it, there is a sense some days\u00a0as if one is\u00a0hanging on by the\u00a0fingernails to the edge of a whirling merry-go-round. In the words of Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe:<\/p>\n

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We are heading towards the end of time. Now the more we approach the end of time, the more quickly we proceed\u2014this is what\u2019s extraordinary. There is, as it were, a very significant acceleration in time; there\u2019s an acceleration in time just as there\u2019s an acceleration in speed. And we go faster and faster. We must be very attentive to this to understand what is happening in today\u2019s world.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u2014The Catholic Church at the End of an Age<\/em>, Ralph Martin, p. 15-16<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We must be attentive because the danger is that we allow ourselves to get caught up in this whirlwind of doing <\/i>and\u00a0to be pulled into the deceptive winds of this Great Storm that has\u00a0landed upon\u00a0humanity’s doorstep\u2014to be yanked\u00a0into a million distractions, a thousand duties, a hundred desires\u2026 and away from the one thing that matters most: that\u00a0God is first.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

St. John Paul\u00a0II wrote:<\/p>\n

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Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of \u201cdoing for the sake of doing\u201d. We must resist this temptation by trying \u201cto be\u201d before trying \u201cto do\u201d.<\/b>\u00a0 \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millenio Ineunte<\/i>, n. 15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is true: we are in a Great Storm at this hour, and thus, it is essential that we take refuge,<\/i>\u00a0which is the same thing as saying, \u201cto rest in God” or\u00a0“to be.”\u00a0<\/i>But how? Every day, I find a deluge of things competing for my time. It\u2019s not that other matters aren\u2019t important. But what is essential is to get my priorities straight. And it begins with making God first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things [that you need] will be given you besides. (Matt 6:33)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If the first thing I do when I wake in the morning is read the news, check\u00a0email, scroll Facebook, scan Twitter, poke around Instagram, respond to texts, read more news, return phone calls\u2026 well, I scarcely have put God first.\u00a0Rather, we should get ourselves together in the morning, look beyond the forest of distractions and temptations, and fix our eyes on \u201cJesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.\u201d [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Heb 12:2<\/span><\/span>