We can all fall into routines in many different ways. In the same thought our routines are often interrupted and disrupted by inner and outer sources that seemingly come at us when least expected. There is one great routine interrupter that occurs twice a year and comes along like clockwork. It is the dreaded “spring forward and fall back” disrupter that is a particular form of anguish and may I dare say evil that enters our lives.
One of my routines is my early morning prayer time followed by my morning exercise/walk. This past “fall back” a few weeks ago I noticed something different…when I began my morning walk down Railway Ave, through downtown Campbell and up the street before circling around and heading back to the parish…I saw lights that slowly disappeared as the days and then weeks continued. The routine I have is pretty peaceful and quiet and the people I see on this early morning jaunt around town are almost always the same but it is also the houses…now the houses don’t move…but you begin to notice, after four years, the ones that have the early morning lights on and those that remain in darkness. What I noticed, especially in the first few workdays after the “fall back,” was how many of the houses and apartments had early morning lights. How many more people where getting an early morning coffee at the local coffee house and more importantly (and dangerously for someone walking) how many more cars (often driving too fast) were on the road. It certainly made me look differently at the neighborhoods I was walking through and being much more attentive and careful in crossing the streets.
But as the days and weeks have gone slowly by the new lights have darkened, the coffee shop has few early morning customers and the cars have lessened, slowed down and the walk has fallen back into the routine.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Will Durant)

The breaking of routine is beneficial for the renewed appreciation for what is around us. Where we once more have a new look at the gifts and blessings with which God surrounds us and we can begin to take for granted. It can make us unsteady and more attentive to the steps we take and the words we use. This can be good. But at the same time routine allows our minds to relax, to quiet the cacophony of noise, to silence the intrusive desire for the always new and hear a voice whispering truth and love. And this is where our routines and the breaking of routine sit side by side in the life of faith.

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

My morning routine of time before the Blessed Sacrament and then my walking Rosary open my heart to listen and speak to God about my hopes and dreams, about my doubts and fears as well as the blessings I give thanks for each day. The daily Mass, as I wrote last week, becomes the time of placing myself before God, as the prayer known in my bones, slowly unwinds around me. But when something breaks this routine I am challenge to discover God once more as the Holy Spirit moves my heart to recognize the presence of Love where we see the sparkling lights of life shine brightly, where the movement of the world call us to a new attentiveness and where God’s presence remains constant in the invitation to walk with Him in our journey.
God Bless
Fr. Mark