{"id":186,"date":"2011-09-22T21:48:39","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T02:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=186"},"modified":"2011-09-21T21:50:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-22T02:50:48","slug":"the-evils-of-procrastination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"The Evils of Procrastination"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Hag 1: 1-8; <\/span>Lk 9: 7-9<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Dc. Larry Brockman<\/o:o:p><\/h2>\n

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There are lots of Procrastinators out there!\u00a0 <\/span>People that put off doing things.\u00a0 <\/span>They may even mean well; but even with the best of intentions, they just never seem to get around to it.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, they procrastinate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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The people of Haggai\u2019s time were procrastinators.\u00a0 <\/span>They had promised to build the Lord a House; but they kept saying that the time was not quite right.\u00a0 <\/span>Haggai is trying to rouse them- to get them off of their duff and into action.\u00a0 <\/span>He plays on their guilt, tries to shame them into action.\u00a0 <\/span>And what makes it worse- it is a collective effort that is being held up.\u00a0 <\/span>Building the temple requires cooperation from many of them.\u00a0 <\/span>But all of them were procrastinating.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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You know, it is easy for us to get into such a rut too.\u00a0 <\/span>We tell ourselves we need to plan properly; or we need just a few more assets; or we need a better time when other things are not pressing.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, we do not act as individuals.\u00a0 <\/span>And before you know it, days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years go by, and whatever it is that we had the best intentions of doing, remains undone.\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe it is reconciling with a loved one; or making a basic change in our lives to get out of a rut; or even going on a diet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Today, let us reflect on our spiritual life in particular.\u00a0 <\/span>Are we putting something off there, something we know we should do, but just haven\u2019t gotten around to?\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe it\u2019s a nagging feeling that we should join a ministry; or sign up for adoration; or a discussion group; maybe even join a group that is involved in social action.\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe it\u2019s a retreat, like Emmaus or Cursillo, that we feel called to do, but keep putting off.\u00a0 <\/span>And maybe it\u2019s something really basic, like just making the effort to do morning and evening prayer consistently.\u00a0 <\/span>But whatever it is, this first reading really calls us to reflect on our tendency to procrastinate- and get beyond it.<\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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And there is something more, too.\u00a0 <\/span>Because collectively, if we were all individually motivated and involved just a bit more, what a difference we could make.\u00a0 <\/span>Like the people of Haggai\u2019s time, we could build a temple for the Lord,\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe not a physical temple, but we could do something that makes a difference in society that would give glory to God.\u00a0 <\/span>Let me give you an example:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Last year, Holy Family\u2019s Respect Life Organization made a collective effort to sponsor Pro-Life billboards in the Orlando Area.\u00a0 <\/span>It took the efforts of a group of people just like you and I- an organizer, someone to do research, a fundraiser, and some people who generously responded.\u00a0 <\/span>But it was a handful of people who just decided they were going to make it happen.\u00a0 <\/span>As a result, six pro-life billboards were sponsored around the Orlando Area.\u00a0 <\/span>Lots of people noticed- our Bishop was one of them.\u00a0 <\/span>So, we really can do something that makes a difference if we do not procrastinate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t help thinking of what a difference it would have made, if Herod in today\u2019s Gospel story\u00a0 <\/span>really had made an effort to see and listen to Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Hag 1: 1-8; Lk 9: 7-9 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 There are lots of Procrastinators out there!\u00a0 People that put off doing things.\u00a0 They may even mean well; but even with the best of intentions, they just never seem to get around to it.\u00a0 And so, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[67],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}