16 January 2022. 2nd Sunday in OT. Cycle C-2022.
Isaiah 62:1-5 + 1Corinthians 12:4-11 + John 2:1-12
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “…My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:3-4).

“Son, it’s Sunday,” a mother called out his yuppie son as he walked out of the house to his car. “Stop by the Church to attend Holy Mass before you go to work.”

I have no time for that,” he shouted back, irritated at her nagging. “I would watch the livestreaming in my break time,” he added as he tried to compromise.

Remembering an oft-repeated excuse, he yelled back to his mom, “The uninspiring homily of that boring pastor would just lull me to sleep. I would sin just the same. In livestreamed Mass, I could pick a service of my choice, at a time in my convenience.

“BUSY: Being Under Satan’s Yoke” –From an unknown source.

You bet, excuses for missing Sunday Mass or Daily Prayer never run out. Whatever these might be, it had been said, ‘If there is a will, there is always a way… If there is no will, there is always an excuse.’

On priorities, Jesus had something to say, “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34).

A person will, indeed, always find time to do anything he treasures. Time spent for anything he does not treasure is wasted.

“It is in vain for you to rise early,
and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—
[For] all this God gives to his beloved [even] in sleep” (Psalm 27:2).

This is what the Lord promised, if anyone believes. You live as what you believe; you pray as how you believe. “Lex credendi… lex orandi… lex vivendi.”

Jesus, added, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mark 8:36). Time passes quickly; eternity stays forever. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy leads to eternal life.

It is disheartening to think that the sin of being too busy for Mass or prayer is not, merely, not treasuring time for God; it is worse… it is stealing God’s Holy Day in order to add to the already time-greedy pursuit of pleasure and treasure.” VSS

Picture credit: Jampacked Sunday ballgame at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, CA. Lean Sunday crowd at a Church, photo by Sandy Torchon, at pexels.com. Yuppy praying at livestreamed Mass, by styleforum.net.