Looks like most of us survived the Thanksgiving weekend, and the central theme, I think, for Thanksgiving itself is invitation. Invitation whether it's spoken out loud or just presumed that you're invited. Think about the invitation of those that you have no one to be with, come with us. Just know that it's not the same without you. We'd love to have you here.

Or it's unexpected and say, you live under the same house. Dinner's at three. Be there or be square. Invitation. Now the invitation has a number of things.

One, that it remembers past thanksgiving. Remember the first turkey you cooked and how raw it came out? Do you know the bad snowstorm we had and you couldn't be there? Or there was a lot of function at work that you couldn't make it or you were sick? Or how it was great that we haven't seen each other in a long time, or the past Thanksgiving was the first time the entire family was together.

So we remember the past about past Thanksgiving, whether it was joyful or challenging. We also know that the arrival at that present moment is wonderful. The dog. Roar. Roar.

Roar. Someone's at the door. Look who's there. It's our guest. Oh, someone needs a ride from the airport.

Oh, great. They made it. We were worried there was bad snow at other places, or they did get off work, and the arrival is met either with joy oh, boy, here it goes. It depends, but it's still the arrival. And you talk about future Thanksgiving.

Everyone loved your casserole. Can you come back next year and make that? Who's gonna host it? Because I am tired. I hate doing the dishes and all.

Who's gonna host the next one? I'll be glad to do it. It'll be my first time. So Thanksgiving remembers the past, celebrates the present moment when they arrive, and talks about future dinners. That's the season of Advent.

Season of Advent prepares us to celebrate the season of Christmas. We remember through scriptures the past of all that God's done, but we know that Christ has already come. And he has been there and taken on the form of humanity, the incarnation, that God becomes one like us in all things but sin. We remember his present moment in gatherings when we love, when we gather at the table, and all the blessings we receive. Christ is present now, but we also know that he has promised to come again.

All three scripture reasons readings are an invitation to prepare. Matthew says, stay awake. Wake up. Some of you are already asleep already at my homily. Wake up.

Be prepared. Saint Paul in the Romans says, you know, the time is coming soon. Put away dark deeds and put on the light itself, which is Christ. And Isaiah says, walk in the path of the light of the Lord. All these things are invitations to invite God into our lives.

The responsorial psalm, come, Lord Jesus, come. So the central part of a disciple of Jesus Christ is prayer. Prayer is the tool and the way of life that we use to invite God and his ways into our lives here. So the invitation then begins with our theme, Lord, teach us to pray. You know, the entire life of Jesus was he did a lot of preaching.

He did a lot of healing. He did a lot of ministries in different ways, and dealt with danger and threats to his life as well. But the disciples were always looking for him. Jesus, the work is never done. We're all looking for you.

Where have you been? We spent the whole day trying to find you. And Jesus is away in prayer, sometimes with a group, sometimes with the disciples, many times alone, inviting the father into his life. And finally, the disciples in Luke chapter 11 scratch their head and say, Lord, teach us to pray. So even the disciples know that prayer is a central part.

And so this year, we're asking people to commit again to growth in prayer because our Catholic family, our Catholic faith has a richness in different forms and different ways to pray. One of the things about prayer is that prayer is time that can be feeling like a waste of time. You and I are part of a society that always has to be busy. Some of us feel guilty when we're idle. We don't wanna be bored.

We always feel that we have to be doing something. We were either taught that way or the mindset that's given to us, be busy and don't waste any time. And the problem with prayer is that prayer causes us to stop doing busy stuff even when it's important, and that's difficult for us. So many times in prayer, you and I think, I can't waste my time. There's no way I can give this much time to prayer because it's so passive.

Or I tried prayer, but it didn't work. I didn't get what I thought I should have got. And so many times, prayer is just put aside and only used when we feel we need to confer with God. Part of the challenge in prayer is thinking it's a conversation with God, but it's little bit listening. But it's all talk.

God, here's the list of what I need. God, you need to be doing these things. God, I'm upset at the world and my neighbors. I'm concerned about health. I'm concerned about family.

Here are the things I present to you, but it seems like you don't answer. And the invitation of prayer is just to spend silence with God and let God speak to us. I invite you with this new season, the new year of Advent, and the new secular lier coming up, can we commit to ten minutes of prayer? We are not too busy to give ten minutes as a start because prayer is a way of life. It isn't I tried it, or I use it when I need it, or I I'll pray when I eventually find time in my calendar.

A commitment of ten minutes is to be still with God. Older people who come to confession always say, my sin is my mind wanders when I pray. Hopefully, it doesn't wander during the homily. That's a mortal sin. But it you know what?

When your mind wanders, all I gotta tell you as your pastor, welcome to humanity. Welcome to humanity. That's not the greatest sin. Remember, Saint Paul teaches us it's not us there praying and going, it's up to me. That's not prayer.

Prayer is letting go and letting the spirit come into us. Remember what Saint Paul teaches in the epistles, the spirit comes upon us and then teaches us what to say. It all isn't dependent on us. What is dependent is whether we're going to take the time. And so we think that it has to be wordy.

A lot of times, I don't know what to say. Some of you had a heart attack when you were asked to do the blessing at thanksgiving. I don't know what to say. Lord, rub me, rub me, Thank God for the grub. Let's eat.

You know? And you know what? Many times, it's just being still, and that's developed over time. Now rote prayer, which is prayer that we memorize and we say often, a lot of times, can be, careful we have to do that, but it can be positive. Sometimes we rush to the prayer.

When's the last time we really reflected on the our father? What's the fastest you've ever done the our father? Three seconds. New record. We do that.

Some of us don't even know what we're praying. But you know what? What is good is when I visit someone who's preparing to go home to the Lord, and the family said, they haven't been conscious for two weeks. Why don't you pray with them? And I pray, and the whole family or friends that are gathering around, we start doing the our father and hail Mary, and guess what?

The mouth moves, and the family freaks out. Wow. They haven't prayed or said anything or been aware, but they can listen. The sense of hearing is the strongest sense that lasts more than any other sense. Your dying loved ones can hear, and it's shown by prayer.

But you don't have to use words. Many saints who have talked about prayer is the stillness of prayer. You know what? Even when you stop for nine and a half minutes and your mind wanders and you're going, this is a waste of time. I wish I could be more prayerful like other people.

I read about saint so and so, or the pope said, or my aunt Lucy who's really prayerful and prays 12 rosaries a day. I wish I could be like her. And guess what? You don't have to be exactly like her. But maybe those thirty seconds or ten seconds is the time that God can connect.

All of you in marriage, all of you in marriage have moments of deep love, deep sharing. Not every day is deep and significant and loving, but little parts of the day and little decisions that you and I make in loving relationships are what matter. So those of you who have a good prayer life, maybe at Advent, maybe kind of focus on listening, or maybe being able to invite Christ in your new way. Because in the business of life, which comes to everyone, we're so busy telling God what we need. We're so busy telling God who we don't like, or who voted wrong, or who hurt our feelings, or who are doing bad things.

Things that can be important. But all we do is the talking, and maybe we're not listening. And maybe ten minutes. Now for parents who have children, before you roll your eyes and go, you're not a parent. Look.

Sometimes maybe the bathroom is the only place you got, and that needs to be your chapel. Lock the door with little hands going underneath there. Mommy, daddy. That's okay. It's ten minutes.

So today, when people ask you what the homily is about, rather than saying usually, I don't know, maybe let's remember ten minutes. Ten minutes to invite God. Renew if you're praying good. If you have a good prayer life, God bless you. But you know what?

Look for renewal of being a better listener or maybe making better time. And for those of you who are so busy and maybe don't feel like you have the depth of understanding prayer, give ten minutes and offer to God. Here's what pleases God. You stop your life, and your body belongs to God for ten minutes. See, that's how prayer works.

Prayer works with being still and letting God into our lives. That's why Advent is invitational. Who are you going to invite next Thanksgiving? Who are you going to be excited at their arrival? And who's going to be hosting Thanksgiving next year?

Sounds just like Advent. Christ has come. Christ is here. Christ will come again. And we miss it unless we stop for ten minutes and invite God to come into our lives.

Thank you for listening.