If you have ever watched the TV show “Say Yes to the Dress,” it really is a reflection (albeit a secular one) on this Sunday’s Gospel passage. Brides search high and low and spend hours trying to find the perfect wedding dress. They bring friends and family, drink cheap champagne, listen to consultants, try on many dresses, cry, argue, scream, etcetera until they find “the one.” The average cost of a wedding dress is around $2100 and the whole wedding can cost between 34 and 36 thousand dollars. For ONE day. And to what end? To impress friends and relatives? To “make a statement?” To create memories?
I’m not trying to disparage weddings by any means, but to think of the time, money, and energy spent for basically 6 hours of one’s life just seems a bit much to me. We could point to other examples as well: The person who collects and restores antique cars or the one who is a fanatic about video games or the person who is enamoured with a particular athlete or pop star and collects memorabilia or the one who spends hours on social media going down various rabbit holes seeking information or entertainment. Whenever a hobby or a quest becomes an obsession to the point of excluding others or making the hobbyist into a recluse, problems can arise.
If we spend time and energy on something that is tangible and perishable, do we spend an equal amount on that which is intangible and imperishable? How much time do we devote to the pursuit of God?
What separates us from the saints is not that they were holier than we are or that they had special gifts or talents. Rather, a saint is one who pursues a relationship with God with the tenacity of Captain Ahab searching for Moby Dick or the bride searching for that perfect wedding dress or the person seeking treasure. So this week, do an inventory of your time. How much time and energy do you spend on earthly pursuits compared to the amount of time you spend on seeking out God? If the human outpaces the divine, your priorities are skewed. If we want to become a saint, we need to apply the techniques of the world to our pursuit of God.
