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Some days at Saint Meinrad seem to fly by in a flurry of activity. There's always another meeting, a blog post to write, an email to answer, a presentation to prepare, an event to plan. Oftentimes, the day is simply full of “holy interruptions,” when someone stops by the office to catch up or talk about ministry.

 How often during the day does someone say, "Hey! How are you?" to which I answer, "Good. Busy, but good."

After I'm done in the office, there's usually a post-work, pre-bedtime commitment in my calendar that I made when I was younger and had more energy. Then it's time to go to bed before it starts over again.

 At the end of the day, I look back and wonder: What did I really accomplish? Was I present to others? Was I present to the Lord? Did I live today, or did I just fill my time?

To answer the last question, I have to define what it means to live in the first place.

More and more I am convinced that to truly live is to live for Christ. And to live for Christ means to enter fully into the Paschal Mystery of life, death, and resurrection.

The Paschal Mystery is not just something we hear about at Mass or celebrate during Lent and Easter. This dying and rising is lived out in us every day. We die and rise when we give up bad habits, repent of our sins, let go of grudges, take care of our mental health, accompany family members in crisis, and make time each day for God. We die and rise when we offer our whole self to the Lord, letting Him love us in our weakness and redeem the parts of our heart that we think are unworthy.

 This doesn't mean we have to stop checking off our to-do lists and cancel all our plans, not at all! It's simply a recognition that our lives have become extraordinarily busy, and this doesn't always lead to our flourishing. Living the Paschal Mystery requires that we reorder our lives to place Christ at the center.

 If He is at the center, everything else will fall into its proper place.