February 28/First Saturday of Lent
Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart. ~ Ps 119.2
How many of us can honestly say that we seek God with our whole hearts? Do we make a genuine effort to carve out time for daily prayer and reflection — or do we let the press of business encroach and put it off for “later”? Do we strive to be truly attentive to the presence of God in our lives and in our world, or is our daily routine on autopilot? As the 20th century French philosopher Simone Weil said, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” Sometimes we have no choice about where to focus our attention — a child in need, a pressing work deadline, an urgent house repair. But not everything that commandeers our attention is equally deserving of it, and each of us can usually find a few discretionary minutes in our day. How we spend those minutes matters, for as theoretical physicist Michael Goldhaber observed, human attention is “one of the most finite resources in the world.” Will we focus ours on updating our carefully curated Instagram profile, or playing just one more game of Candy Crush? Will we allow ourselves to be drawn down into the rabbit warrens of Tik Tok or to doomscroll the news? To put these distractions aside and seek God with our whole hearts isn’t always an appealing prospect. It’s far easier to hit “Next Episode” and slouch on the couch with Netflix for another 53 minutes than to spend those 53 minutes in reading or prayer. But we have only so much time, and we are eventually going to have to choose. The psalmist affirms that the way of the blessed is to seek God with our whole hearts. That is the highest and best use of our attention, and our time.
Steadfast Lord, Inspire me with the courage to put my whole heart into loving and worshiping you above all things in my life. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022826.cfm
To hear Pro Cantione Antiqua sing “Beati immaculati” by Tomás Luis de Victoria, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58EKz9ghlJY
