July 11, 2011
A family frolicks on a sunkissed beach. Father Michael B. McGarry, president of the Paulist Fathers, points out how deadlines can launch us out of summertime procrastination and into a richer, deeper spiritual life.
Father Michael McGarry, CSP“Summertime and the living is easy,” so Gershwin’s lullaby reminds us. It’s summer. Time to procrastinate.
But then again, every season is a great time to procrastinate, at least in my life. One antidote to procrastinating is a deadline. Deadlines were my friend in college when I had to write a paper, and they remain so today when I have to pay my bills or to prepare a homily. And deadlines can be our friends in the Christian life. Because, even though it’s the time of vacation, it is also the time of life.
Let’s review some of them to see how deadlines can be a spring of life.
My reading deadline. What books, articles and poems have I told myself that I’m going to read to enrich my spiritual and Christian intellectual life? To possess life, and life to the full, what ways am I to live more fully by reading, uninterrupted, about the Bible, my family life, my prayer life? This summer I’m going to read that book that’s been languishing on my shelf.
My visiting deadline. Many of us have heard of the “bucket list” – that list of things that we want to do before we die. How fervent were many of us Americans after 9/11 in a kind of personal conversion to focus on the things that really matter – family, God personal growth? Now, almost ten years later, who are the people whom I intend to visit – before they or I die? This summer, I’m going to visit them.
My prayer deadline. As a priest, I frequently hear people express their good intentions by saying something like, “I know I should pray more, I just need to carve out a time and a place.” Prayer is that place where, regularly, we speak with and – as important – listen to our Gracious God. Now is the time to make that intention a reality by seeing a deadline and sticking to it.
My inventory deadline. The deadline here, like those above, often comes on a daily basis. So, before I lay my head on the pillow at night, “How can I thank thee, O Lord, my God? Let me count the ways.” Someone once told me – and I believe it to be true – that you can’t be grateful and angry at the same time. Not that anger is uncalled for or even necessary. But our country seems to be eating itself on a need to be regularly and righteously angry – politically, socially and sometimes even in our church (that’s one of the reasons for our Paulist ministry of reconciliation). So, on a regular basis, recounting a listing of things to be grateful for can enrich our summer: our faith, our family, our health, our education, hot water out of the spigot in the morning, food on our tables, sobriety, friends, children, a good laugh with colleagues, meaningful work, the taste of a raspberry. You name it … that’s when a grateful heart beats ever so vibrantly.
My missionary deadline. Finally, what marks the full Christian life is the urge to share our faith with others. Recently Paulist Father Frank DeSiano wrote a book titled Mission America in which he systematically and clearly describes this dimension of our Christian life. On a less systematic and informal basis we may have that missionary urge within us that requires a deadline. Maybe this urge expresses itself like this: “I’ve been meaning to invite my friend to go to Sunday Mass with me – maybe throw in brunch as a bonus – but I’ve just been putting it off. This week, this summer, I will do it. In fact, on Aug. 21st, I’m going to invite her/him to Mass.” Our Catholic shyness about sharing our faith may inhibit me … but, hey, it’s summertime and the living is easy. And that life can be full. And the rest of the Christian community misses your friend at the Eucharistic banquet.
I said above that, at various times in my life, deadlines have been, and are, my friends. As I reflect on our Paulist missionary life, it seems that some of my deadlines are really my lifelines. Perhaps they can be so for you. May your life – and that of those you love – be full and rich this summer because of your engaging your lifelines.