Just One Hour a Week?

We live. We eat. We work. We enjoy life and build our own family. We struggle. We laugh, we cry, and at the end of it all – DEATH!

Then, the most important questions to ask are, “Is there life after I die? Are heaven and hell real”? If there is such thing as eternity in heaven or hell, then I should take my life seriously because eternity is not just a million, not even a trillion years Eternity is endless; there is no end!

Therefore all my time, all my efforts, all my priorities, and all my investments in life should be directed towards that end. Otherwise, everything would be in vain, and the joy of eternity is lost Nothing is more horrible than the failure to go to my Eternal Home in God!

For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul? (Mark 8:36).

One Hour a Week?

Do you seriously believe you are able to achieve your goals in just one hour a week? It would be ludicrous to a lot one hour a week of practice for an athlete aiming for the gold medal in the Olympics or one hour a week of study for a law student aiming to top the bar exam. Even worse would be to devote one hour a week of dating to a lover who wants intimacy with her beloved.

Can you achieve any goal with just one hour a week?

Here’s the real thing a lot of people believe in heaven. Nobody wants to go to hell. So they spend one hour a week on Sunday worship. A minimum of one hour a week in exchange for eternal destiny – heaven or hell.

God gave His whole life to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. In exchange, we only give a tiny part of our time to him. Does it make sense? Is this our only response to Jesus’ crucifixion and death on the cross? One hour a week? Are we kidding? Are we playing God?

Priorities

From now on, I have to reprogram my life and give priorities to spiritual exercises each day. I read the Bible every day. I spend time in prayer every day. However, I am still rationing my time. My prayer is desperate:

Father, give me the grace to be able to give my whole heart to you so I will always mindful of your presence every moment of my life. I want to offer every single thing that I do for you and read your Word every day so as to know you more each day. No more one-hour-a-week Lord but day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment let my life be wholly dedicated to you!

Is God the God in Your Heart?

If a man makes money his god, what would probably be the thing to happen to him?

Probably, when he wakes up in the morning, the first thing that would cross his mind would be money. When he goes to work, interacts with people, tackles some projects, his driving force would be centered on making more money. Every time he makes a crucial decision, the first and foremost consideration would always be about how much profit he would make. When he goes to sleep at night, the last issue, ideas, thoughts that would bring his mind to sleep would be money.

Obviously, we could assume that money would be the most probable answer in the blanks based on the disposition of the person in our example. In the morning, in the middle of the day, and at night – money would occupy the mind of the man.

What if a person – man or woman is making God his or her God?

I want you to go back to the statements above and fill in the blanks. What would be the most probable answer?

Do we have an obvious answer?

Ideally, the answer must be God – if that person is really making God the God of his or her life.

Fill in the blank:

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing that would cross my mind is  _____.

When I go to work, interact with people, do some projects, proceed with my endeavours, the driving force would be centered on _____.

Every time I make a crucial decision, the first and foremost consideration would always be about _____.

In every relationship I have, the elements that can hold would always be _____.

When I go to sleep at night, the last issues, ideas, thoughts that would bring my mind to sleep would be 

Is God the answer? No? Yes? Sometimes?

Is God, the God in your heart?

My Personal Realization

As I reflected on whether God was really my main focus in my life, I realized I was not serious enough in my relationship with Him. I started to re-organized my day-to-day schedule so as to realign everything to Him. I spent a sufficient amount of time for prayer. I turned to the sacraments (communion and confession) as often as I could.

I learned to develop and solidify a habit that I can do moment by moment every day. This is the habit of offering up everything that I do to God. Its impact is profound. Teaching, walking, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, attending to kids – all are offered up to God. This habit has shaped my heart and mind to be always focused on God regardless of the circumstances. The good thing about this is when it directs my daydreaming to focus on God. I believe this is an element in which St. Paul talks about praying unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We daydream all the time. When we convert this into a spiritual exercise – what a tremendous impact on our lives! Prayer becomes (integral to) life and life becomes (uninterrupted) prayer. I have not fully reached this part but I’m glad God gives me this direction.

Whole not Part

Now let’s ponder on God’s Greatest Commandment highlighted by our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 12:28-31): 

One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’

Jesus challenges us to love God with ALL our heart, with ALL our soul, with ALL our mind, and, with ALL our strength. With our ALL – not just a part in loving Him.

Loving God with our “all” is a commandment that makes us accomplished all God’s moral commands including the Ten Commandments. Without this first commandment, we cannot even love our neighbour as we love our self. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Experience God’s Love

But this is not possible unless we experience God’s love at the depths of our being. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). To me this is like a tug of war – I pull God to me with all my might and He pulls me into Him – but it all results in a loving embrace. St. Augustine says “Work as if everything depends on you, pray as if everything depends on God.” These words also apply to our love for God. We do the natural means – meditating on his love in the life of our Lord Jesus, most especially in his passion. We build habits to grow in our love for Him by offering up little sacrifices, self-denials, and day-to-day works.

When we choose to love God with our whole consciousness, with our whole emotional and mental energy, with all our moral muscles to make him the top priority in everything, this is the only means in which we transcend our finite love into his love. This is total self-giving – allowing the Holy Spirit to love God in us and through us. This is living out the Eucharistic Life of Christ in us – and making our heart a holy tabernacle of God’s love.

Concluding Prayer

Lord, I’m so sorry for giving you only breadcrumbs of my life.

Forgive me for placing you at the side beat of my daily schedules. Many times I made my own decisions without looking if it is in accordance with your will. You were always the last resort when giving solutions to my problems. I always trust my own self more than you rather than letting you drive my life according to your plan.

From now on may you’ll be the one to overflow in my heart when I wake up in the morning and be the one to fill my mind when I go to bed at night. Give me the grace to have your presence throughout the day, and let your Spirit burst out short prayers in me crying “Abba – Father!” May you always be the center of my conversation with others, the sole guide in my decision-making, and the goal of my deepest longing.

Let me know deeply that in your love, you gave your ALL to me in the person of your Son Jesus Christ, who gave his ALL by dying on the cross for me.

Send your Holy Spirit to make me give my ALL back to you and to love you with ALL of my heart, with ALL of my soul, with ALL of my mind, and with ALL of my strength.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.