"Above the Word of God, put nothing else"

The other day, I had a meeting with my Pastor, who has been serving as my Spiritual Director since I began discerning the Priesthood.  I walked in carrying a bunch of stuff, including my Bible, some papers, and various other items.  I set these down on the table in his office, and immediately my Pastor noticed that I had set the other things that I was carrying down on top of my Bible.  He turned to me and said "A wise Jesuit Priest once told me: 'Above the Word of God, put nothing else.'"  Of course I quickly rearranged everything that I was carrying so that the Bible was on top, because he was indeed speaking in a literal sense.

After the meeting I got to thinking about that statement, and how it is important, not only in a literal sense, but in a Spiritual sense as well.  In today's world, it is so easy to get distracted by all of the things this world has to offer:  TV, movies, video games, online social networking... things that can be great in moderation, but when they are used to excess, they take our focus away from God, who should be the center of our life.

It's not easy to be completely focused on God in a society that seems to have turned it's back on Him.  It seems like everywhere you turn, there is infidelity, greed, deceit, and all these things are glorified and praised by our society, on TV, in the movies, and in magazines.  When surrounded by all of these things, it can draw your focus away from God, but only if you let it.  St. Paul instructs us in his Letter to the Romans "Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2).

But the question remains:  how do we accomplish this?  I know this is something that I am still struggling with, so I'm not sure that I have the complete answer to that question yet.   I do know that it does mean you have to be willing to spend at least some time in prayer to God each and every single day, whether it be a formal prayer, like the Liturgy of the Hours, or attending Mass, or just taking a few minutes to have a conversation with God, and to ask Him for the strength to get through the day in the morning, and then thank him for the day in the evening, and ask for forgiveness for any sins you may have committed that day.  Is it easy? No, especially when you're super busy, and the temptation is to think that it's too hard to "find time" to pray.  but the truth is, that if we are to indeed put God above all else, we should make prayer our first priority, and set aside that time first.  It isn't easy, because I know that so many times I would prefer to sleep a few extra minutes, or go to bed instead of taking the few extra minutes to pray.  But I know that as I go forward with my discernment, having a good prayer life is going to become that much more important, so I know it's something I need to start working on now.  May God give me the strength to keep drawing closer to him, even in the midst of adversity.  Amen.