‘Grace in the midst of chaos’

I know that I have mentioned this in past columns, but this is always a tough time of the year for me. It seems that each year I see a free weekend around New Years, then I can set my sights on Easter for the next free weekend. Yes, I know -- stop feeling sorry for myself; learn a lesson from the guy on the TV commercial and learn to say "no." It is obvious that I have yet to learn the meaning of this word and how to use it. But then again, this constant desire to help meet the needs of our parishes and minister to the youth, with confirmation retreats, other retreats, youth rallies, etc. continues to drive me.

Of course, I am not saying anything new or different from what anyone else is living or feeling. We are constantly on the go and our lists of things to do seem to grow each day. Which leads me to the main part of this column.

A couple of weeks ago, a coworker asked me how I was and I said, "tired." He responded, "I know the feeling." At that point, I wanted to say, "You don’t have a clue," but fortunately I didn’t, as it did lead me to think about what was said. Yes, I am sure that he does not have a clue as to why I was and am so tired, as he is not walking or running in my shoes. But I am not in his shoes, so I don’t have a clue as to why he is tired either. Much of this is true with our young people. I cannot imagine everything they are dealing with on a daily basis. I know that many of them feel completely overwhelmed with so many things going on in their lives.

So, here I was, trying to go to sleep last night when my mind takes off, thinking of the many things that I need to get done, and thinking that I will never complete every task. Even when I reached the point of frustration and said to myself that I will not get any of it done tonight, so I may as well go to sleep, I still had trouble shutting my mind off.

I have talked enough about the chaos, so let me conclude with "grace." It’s strange, I use this word a lot in my retreats, but do I really understand it? Do I really know what it means? Do our young people know what it means? So this morning I took the liberty of looking it up: "Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help God gives to respond to his call. It is participation in the life of God."

I laid there last night, trying to go back to sleep, knowing full well that no matter how overwhelmed I may feel, through God’s grace, I am always able to get things done in a timely fashion, so why should I worry so much? Why should our young people worry so much? Why should they feel so overwhelmed when they are pulled in so many directions?

I ask then, that as we continue this journey through Lent and this time of prayer and reflection, that we not only help ourselves, but our young people too, to better understand the meaning of grace. Can we help our youth find the free and undeserved help God gives each of them? Can we help them find God’s grace in the midst of all this chaos?