Sunday, Fourth week of Lent 2023,

Today I volunteered to read the 1^st & 2^nd reading at mass at my church.   The readings were kind of disjointed a little bit from the main Gospel which was from John 9: 1-41.  That gospel chapter features a somewhat common miracle of Jesus, that of giving a blind man sight. It also features the aftermath of said miracle where the scribes & the pharisees intensely questioned the young man about how he managed to gain his sight with the formerly blind man ultimately accusing the scribes & pharisees of being blind themselves.   The 1^st reading was from the First book of Samuel chapter 16 where Samuel anoints David to be the next king of Israel. I’m not sure how David being anointed king ties in with a blind man from birth being healed other than hoping people knew the backstory on the 1^st reading with Israel’s king Saul sinning before God & subsequently God choosing a different king.  Maybe somehow that connects to the opening line of the Gospel where Jesus’ disciples ask whose sin caused this young man to be blind since birth but I am still not seeing a clear connection.   The 2^nd reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5: 8-14 does dovetail nicely with the Gospel where St. Paul instructs the Ephesians to live as children of light which is needed for sight and not as children of darkness. So, I did get that connection.  

Afterwards my church was looking for more volunteers to participate in the various ministries including altar servers who assist the priests with the celebration of the mass, lectors aka readers of the old testament & new testament books except the Gospels, eucharistic ministers aka people who distribute holy communion to people in the church & bring it to those to sick to come to church, and ushers who usually collect the monetary offerings of the congregation during the offertory and maybe on Christmas & Easter try to find seats for all of the Creasters that show up.    I am hoping they were able to find some more volunteers because they are needed in my church.

Of course, my church isn’t the only one who needs volunteers.  At another event I volunteered for, that of Catholic Engaged Encounter aka the marital prep weekend many Catholic diocese mandate young couples go on before the big Catholic wedding day, one of my fellow volunteers relayed how his daughters were always getting roped into serving as alter severs at his church because no one shows up to volunteer to assist the priest as an alter server.   Even on that Engaged Encounter weekend while there were a total of 11 volunteers to help 9 couples check in & show them where their rooms are the group had to invite another married Catholic couple in from Michigan to lead the two day long talks to the engaged Catholic couples about how to make a marriage last long term and how they deal with things like trying to chauffer kids around to various afterschool activities while still trying to put dinner on the table in a timely fashion & still manage to love/appreciate their spouse through all of this.  

So, on this point halfway through Lent I began to ponder the state of volunteering in America.   The average American spends 52 hours a year or about 1 hour per week.  I found that volunteering is down overall in America with only about 25% of them doing so on a regular basis and with more older people than younger people and more women than men.  Most only volunteer for one particular charity or cause with most being tied to a religious organization.   And ultimately making these kinds of connections through volunteering is what fosters those bonds/friendships that bring about a great sense of happiness.   

Meanwhile, the average American spends two & ½ hours watching television with me spending perhaps more time that I should on that.    I am presenting this entry onto my blog when I should have probably entered the previous two weeks worth of Lenten 2023 entries before this one.  The reason why I am not is because those previous two weeks worth of Lenten 2023 entries remain undone.  Why? Because I’m spending two & ½ hours watching YouTube or playing my newest addicting videogame 2248 instead of writing.  I’m halfway tempted to post my score on Facebook only as a warning for others to not download this game because of the amount of time it will suck out of your life. 

The idea of Lent it to repent, to turn back to Christ.  As Fr. Mike Schmitz point out in his homilies on YouTube & probably on the Hallowed app we are to become like our rabbi Jesus and do like he does.    So, would Jesus watch 2 & ½ hours worth of TV every day?  OK never mind that TV wasn’t invented until the 1920’s and not made available widely until the 1950’s and most people are probably getting their TV through the Internet which wasn’t invented until the 1960’s and even then wasn’t capable of handling streaming videos until the mid to late 2000’s.   My point is if Jesus were around today how many hours a week of TV would he be watching?

I have a feeling the answer would be none.  I’d think he’d take up Mark Wahlberg’s suggestion from Friday’s Hallowed Lenten 40 meditation about fasting from TV & social media and turning that time into prayer and volunteering to be the light to people in darkness be it the darkness of hunger or homelessness or depression. 

OK, good idea in theory.  However, part of me to quote Alice from Alice in Wonderland (not sure this was in the original Lewis Carroll book or just a line in the Disney 1951 movie) “I often give myself very good advice, but seldom if ever follow it.”   

Considering I spent approximately 1 & ½ hours volunteering this weekend, but I took two three hour naps this weekend because of lack of sleep from the nights before.   Time I should have spent on laundry & cleaning up the disaster area better known as my apartment I spent watching YouTube channels talk about how Paramount + is ready to ditch is woke/broke fabled franchise “Star Trek” and how Disney sucks because they haven’t had a true villain since Mother Gothel in Tangled. 

I only have three weeks left of Lent before Easter when I’m supposed to greet the risen Jesus as a new creation only to lament that I seem like a hopeless creature of darkness and feeling completely helpless to overcome my sinful ways that antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. 

The opening song of Mass was a very familiar one-“Amazing Grace”.    Can grace still save me?   Why do I prefer the darkness to light?  Why am I not repenting and following the ways of the light? 

Please Lord, help me to become that perfect person you want me to be.  Please help me overcome my sinful ways.