America runs on "Dunkin" ? Are ya crazy ?

I've got nothing against coffee, or Dunkin Donuts, or caffeine in general, but it is a springboard for what I have to say today...

Due to some recent circumstances in my life, I have found that I have had total downtime for the last week or so. It has given me a lot more time to think than usual. It was during this time that I started this blog. I also did my taxes, wrote a newsletter (2 actually), organized some stuff, did some reading, and lots of reflecting and thinking, among other things. I also rested a lot. I thought a lot about Jesus, my prince of Peace, and talked to Him about a lot of things.

When Jesus walked upon the earth He had a very active ministry. But as active as Jesus was, it also seems to me that he was a reflective kind of person. He made really good use of his downtime. Scripture says that he would go off and pray. He spent those 40 days in the desert. He spent all that time the night before His crucifixion in Gethsemane praying. He didn't have TV or the Internet or a cell phone. When He was growing up, and was fully grown, it seems to me that He naturally had a lot more opportunities for silence than we do today.

I imagine Jesus walking in the countryside as a young person, enjoying creation and thinking and talking to His Father in Heaven. I imagine Him reflectively watching the people around Him on a day to day basis, watching Joseph doing carpentry, and watching His mother knead the bread dough.

A long time ago a friend said to me, "Imagine Jesus, God Incarnate, walking upon the earth. Maybe he was six feet tall, but within His human frame, He held all the power and majesty of the One True God." I would think about that and I would think "Wow!What a charismatic person to be around! People must've just flocked to Him!".

I remember when someone asked Pope John Paul II why young people were so drawn to him, an old man, the Pope responded by saying that it was the Holy Spirit they were responding too, not him. They knew the Pope was a holy man and that the Holy Spirit freely flowed through his open soul. Imagine then, the power of the Holy Spirit emanating from Jesus when He walked the earth!

Silence and reflection are CRUCIAL for the health of our souls in 2010. We have to make time for it even if we have to literally schedule it (ex: 5-6 PM - Appt. with Jesus). We have to find a way to have more time for reflection, silence, and prayer in our daily lives.

I think people today are starving for silence and don't know it. Scripture says that God will speak in a "still small voice". How can we hear His voice then with all the technology, activity, and noise we have going on around us all the time?

I think one of the biggest lies of the evil one today, that ugly little creep, is that we think there is no way we can make time for Jesus. That is nonsense. We have more control over our schedules than we think we do. We can find 10 minutes to wander into Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and are taught that "America runs on Dunkin", and sadly we believe it, but don't have time to stop into a church, or pick up the Bible and read the daily Scripture verses our church provides for us. America, by the grace of God, runs on the power of the Holy Spirit. If God were to stop thinking of any of us, we would literally cease to exist ! It is His power we run on. I think that is totally incredible!

I would like to challenge everyone out there reading this to make a little more time in their day for silent reflection. Only got 10 minutes ? Take it! Try and make it "focused silence" where perhaps you slowly recite the Lord's Prayer and think about every word. Or you look at a picture of Jesus ( real or imagined ) and just gaze into His eyes and listen with your heart.

Sure, have your caffeine and donut, but also make time for Jesus and partake in the real sustenance He gives us - the Holy Eucharist at Mass.