To be a functioning human being in today’s society, it is necessary to have some sort of schedule, however loose it may be. A schedule structures our day and allows us to interact with other people in a coherent manner. Without schedules, the most basic elements of society would break down.
In the spiritual life, schedules are also very important. Having time set aside for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving helps fight against our natural laziness to forgo these essentials of the spiritual life. Some of the most simple fixes within the spiritual life hinge upon getting back into a routine after becoming lax due to the business of life.
But a schedule, if used improperly, can have drawbacks in the spiritual life. We may become too dependent on it. Rather than encountering the person of Jesus Christ and spreading His love to others, we may become a slave to our routine, practically living like the schedule is the thing that saves us instead of Jesus. Jesus warned about this many times, implicitly and explicitly, throughout the Gospels, especially when engaging with the Pharisees. The story of the Good Samaritan is a prime example of religious people not having time to show God’s mercy and love.
I, myself, have encountered this whenever I see the homeless on the street. Somedays, I am either too busy, or it is impractical to slow down to have a short conversation with those in need or to give them a little bit of money. But during the times that I do break from my schedule and encounter them where they are, I have found that a simple smile and conversation goes a long way. After training myself long enough to break my schedule for the homeless, I have found that I have desired to actually add them into my schedule. When I go somewhere that I know they will be present, I plan to take some money and give some of my time to them. And if I do not encounter them, I accept the gift of time that God has given back to me.
There are countless other ways that we can allow God to break our schedule. I recently had weekend evening plans in which I could pursue my own plans while my kids slept. However, some car troubles derailed those plans, and I found myself spending time with God, praying through my frustrations. Or there are moments when, during my structured prayer life, one of my children asks for my time to play a game or do some other activity with them. While I do not always break away from the scheduled prayer, I allow myself on occasion to trust that my being a loving father is as good if not better activity than praying the liturgy of the hours.
In all, the schedules of our life help us to be good human beings in a world that needs more structure and discipline. Yet, the schedule is not always something to be strictly adhered to or to be made a ‘god’ in our life. As Christians, we are a people of freedom which means that not even a schedule has control over us. Rather, the schedule is meant to serve our freedom. So we are meant to use schedules and structures as a way to order our heart to receive God’s love through prayer and the sacraments. But then we are allowed to be creative and break the structures whenever God is calling us to something greater. Jesus gives us this example. He lived in the Jewish law, but broke it when it was necessary to show greater love for others like when He healed on the Sabbath. May we look to Him and ask for His grace to do the same thing with our lives, because it is in Him that we are truly set free.
