Hi everyone, and welcome to Weekly Homilies with Father Mark Suslenko, Pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. We are part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. I'm Carol Vassar, parish director of communications, and this is Episode 38  - the final episode of Season Five -  for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Nov. 13, 2022. Our Gospel reading is from Luke, Chapter 21, verses 5-19

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here— the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."

Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

"Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

The Gospel of the Lord

“God Dwells in the Present” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

We can often become very consumed by and obsessed with time. Even sometimes, without realizing it, we may find ourselves thinking, how long will it take? Will I be late? Should I be early? Do I have enough time? What will the future bring? Will I be prepared? Can I provide for my household when things get difficult and challenging? How long will I live? 

We become very obsessed with the time of our lives, and we can easily become controlled by time. We go into various experiences of our lives wondering about the amount of time. Perhaps you came here today wondering, is Mass gonna go a full hour today? Cuz I really wanna get to brunch.

We structure our lives around time. And when we hear of wasting time or not using our time wisely, those register as negatives, as well they should. And so for the Christian who has a life of faith, how should we approach time in our lives? Because I think we all can agree that unless we take check and stock in that, time can easily control us.  We become a slave, and is the Christian supposed to be a slave to time? To begin to answer that question, we begin to understand where time comes from. It's not just something we've created. We've structured it. But time itself, the author of time is God. And so if we're gonna understand time in our life and we're going to use our time well, then we have to start with its source, which is God.

And so, how does God expect us to use our time? Well, I think the answer to that question, as with many things in our life, is that we are called to live our lives with balance, Of setting priorities, of organizing the events of our lives so that we attend to what is important and put aside those things that are not Because I think a lot of us can easily admit we waste a lot of time. We waste a lot of time, and we don't bring a lot of wisdom to the use of our time. And so that balance is extremely important for how we then go about the business of our day. 

But our relationship with time gets a little bit more interesting as we look at it and examine it. There are the events of our lives as they play out every day, the agendas that we have to attend to. We can find ourselves analyzing and even somewhat being perturbed by demands on our time. But then, our relationship with time itself is even bigger than that. Because even as we sit here today, there may be things on our minds from our past that we're still brooding over. Errors and mistakes that we perhaps made. Opportunities that we missed. Things that could have happened but didn't happen. Relationships that may have failed and gone sour because of something that we've done. And so we beat ourselves up over our past, and we can't leave the past. And so it comes with us as an anchor, almost like that ship that's anchored to the dock. 

Or maybe we're preoccupied with the future, with that which has not even yet occurred. What will happen? When will it happen? Am I going to get sick? Am I going to die? Am I going to this? Am I going to do that? Am I gonna have enough to make ends meet? And we play the tapes over and over again. Or we become preoccupied with something we have to do in an hour or two hours or tomorrow or next week, and we live in the future, or we live in the past. 

And as our lives play out in the past and in the future, here's the daily agenda that's before us, that we're kind of wading through and pledging through, but our hearts and minds are really not there. And so, how do we become present to our lives? When does that ever happen? If we're constantly distracted or pulled in different directions. 

Because where is God in the midst of all of that? The author of time? Well, he is not concerned about our past anymore. That's over and done with. We can't do anything with that but learn from it. And certainly, it's not the future because that's yet to be. And so God is here and now. But if we're living elsewhere, how are we going to meet God in the present ordinary moments of our lives that unfold before us? Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that we are presented with at every moment. It's there that we begin to understand the truth of who we are and who God is. It's there where we begin to meet the sacred.

You know, when a child gazes into your eyes with that little innocence that I see over there right now, and it hits that flicker, that's once, you'll never see that again. It's a moment. It's a moment of connection that we are presented with once all of life's moments. We can't recreate them, can't find them again. They're gone. And now the next one is present. But if we're living elsewhere, we're not going to be open to receiving them. As we're being led through the events of our lives, we won't be able to recognize them. 

And then the other thing we often forget about ourselves as human beings is that there are events in our life that we can control. We can control and manage our time to a great extent. We can build in what we need in order to discover these graced moments more than we do now. But then there's this whole other part of our lives that we cannot control. They are these built-in "givens" that are going to be there regardless. And if we look at ourselves, it's those things that really trip us up the most. Those things that really cause us to feel deep grief. Those uncontrollable things that are the ones that can easily bring us to our knees. 

And so how do we, as people of faith, negotiate through those and see God present in the midst of those things? You see, if we're constantly worried about them coming, or regretting that they were here, then the moment is missed again.

Living in the present moment and encountering these sacred moments gives us a key element that we need. It's called faith. You see Jesus telling his disciples, Don't worry about what's coming over here. Don't even worry about what was before. Life is gonna unfold for you, and you need to be present to those moments because you're gonna need courage and you're gonna need conviction, and you're going to need faith, and you're going to need power in order to get through those events and be the disciples that I'm asking you to be. So don't get distracted by what has not yet occurred. Don't get tagged down by what has happened. Stay focused in the center here, and then I will give you what you need  to get through faith, trust.

And that's what living in the present moment really brings us. Because those "givens" in life that bring us to our knees, they're gonna happen to each one of us, each one of us, the earth, the world will end, and that's okay. My human life as I know it will end. And that's okay. People will mourn my loss and have to learn to live life anew without me, and that's okay. I will mourn the death of one I love so dearly and have to learn to live life anew without them. And that's okay. 

You see these moments of life bring us to our knees, they're painful, and they cause us deep grief. But we can approach them with them being okay and part of the picture, and somehow God is going to bring us where we need to be or they're not okay. And if we haven't gotten ourselves to the point of faith where these givens of life are okay, we're missing what we need to achieve. 

The present moment is where God dwells. It's where we find joy. It's where we find delight. It's where we find love and where we encounter our true selves. Being present to the moment. Allow God to work in and through us and give us what we need to do, what we need to do. It's really as simple as that when it all boils down. And so let us reflect on our relationship with time. The seasons of our lives, where we've come from and where we're going, and realize that we have the power to organize our lives, to focus on what is right and true, and find God in as many of the moments of life as we possibly can.

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Learn more about our parish community at www.isidoreandmaria.org. And follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our music comes free of charge from Blue Dot Sessions in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’m Carol Vassar. Thanks for joining us.