Daily Reflections - January 6,2013

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

 

I don’t know who said the above line, but this is something we need now.

Today is the solemn feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany literally means the unveiling, the revelation, the manifestation. Today, the Child Jesus is manifested as Savior of humanity. But what is the value of something unveiled, revealed and manifested if it will not be recognized and appreciated? God always manifests Himself: in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, in the people we encounter, in the events of daily life. The problem is with humanity not being attuned to God’s many epiphanies.

The Scriptures bid us, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Being still is not simply being passive; rather, it is an active engagement of the mind and the heart, orienting our inner senses to the essential.

Our generation is fond of “chilling out,” a.k.a. “doing nothing.” Mr. Hahn (Jackie Chan) of the movie Karate Kid said it beautifully, “Being still and doing nothing are two totally different things.” When we do nothing, we achieve nothing. When we keep still, we get more out of life.

One social experiment bears this out. A man was asked to play the violin in a busy subway in New York. In the 45 minutes that the musician played, only six people stopped and stayed for a while. When he finished playing, no one applauded. No one recognized that the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million. Two days before this, Joshua Bell sold out his concert at a Boston theater at an average of $100 a seat. The experiment proposed an insightful challenge: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it has become just a memory. Are you missing God’s epiphany in your life? Savor every moment of God’s epiphany. Don’t let Him fade into a distant memory. Don’t just do something, stand there (read: be still)! Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you paying enough attention to savor each moment before they become memories?

 

Help me to put order in my life, Lord, that I may savor each moment, especially with You.