Devotion - Monday of Holy Week

Of all "the world's" devilish tools, controlling our calendars may be the most destructive and harmful. I fall victim to this; I contribute to the end result.

It is Holy Week. It is also the week which falls two weeks after break and three before the end of the term. It is a good week for a third exam, or for semester-long projects to begin the reporting stage. How, in the midst of all that, can appropriate attention be given to the religious and spiritual observances of this week? It will be difficult.

My insistence that Christian faith be lived in the world should be well engrained. So allow me to speak this morning of the opposite mode of observance. There is a need to assert our spiritual life and our religious devotion as superior to any and all earthly commitments. We do not extract ourselves from the world, but we must insist that our commitment to Christ set the agenda for our lives.

I will struggle, along with all of you, in finding the balance in my life over the next five days. There is a list of things that I must get done by Friday. But that list must be held in check by my prime commitment - by my devotion to the one who enters Jerusalem and exposes our unwillingness to integrate his message and the daily pattern of our lives.

Struggle with me. Speak of the difficulties. Find new paths by listening to how others are finding the balance in their lives.