Reflections | PAYING ATTENTION

Listen as Monsignor Don Fischer reflects on the discipline of seeing things as they truly are.

Good morning. I want to talk to you this morning about something that we do, paying attention. It takes discipline to do it well. And it's important that we do it well. It's different than seeing and looking. We see something. We see a car coming. We know that we're not going to go in that lane or whatever. We look at something, we see, well, that's a book or that's a box or whatever. The paying attention is looking at something and feeling and knowing its impact on you, how it's working in your life. 

There's a story in scripture that I think is so good about this, because one of the things that happened often in that journey from slavery to freedom, we call the the 40 days in the desert that Moses led the people. The people were prone to going back to their old ways, their old ideologies. They were not following these new images of the wisdom of God revealing himself in the ten Commandments. And so they go back to their old ways. And when they did, something happened to them. And it was all of a sudden, these snakes appeared all among them. And they were in this false notion of the reality they were supposed to be living in. And all of a sudden, snakes were everywhere. 

Something's poisonous. It's biting them, and they go to Moses, get rid of the snakes. And he said, “Well, I will, but first I want you to pay attention to them.” So he makes a bronze serpent, a serpent out of bronze and puts it on a pole and says, “Look at it. Look at what it is. It's poisonous. What is it in you right now that you're dealing with that is robbing you of the well-being that God wants you to have? What is it in you that may be a kind of poison? It's killing the spirit that you want to have when you want to feel that you're close to God and God is in you and you're doing this wonderful work.”

Well, the thing about paying attention then, is taking time to reflect on what's going on. And when you feel an emotion, especially, if you feel it in your body, feel it in your gut or feel it in your heart, you know that you're getting close to something that is in you, that's working on you, and that needs to be paid attention to, named and dealt with.

It's a wonderful, wonderful discipline. So try it. If you're not feeling well, ask God to show you what it is. It's somehow gnawing and taking away and poisoning the beauty of the life that God has created for you. God bless you. Thank you.

Have a great day.

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Kyle Cross