November 25, 2025 // Uncategorized

More Vigilance, Less Distraction This Advent

Todays Catholic

“Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”

– Matthew 24:42

The words of Jesus in this week’s Gospel take the form of an “end times” exhortation. As He does in other places, the Lord urges His disciples to “stay awake” (grēgoreō in Greek), to remain vigilant as they await His Second Coming at the end of the age. Indeed, the entire exercise of the Advent season could be described as one of vigilance, of “staying awake” or “keeping watch” for Christ to come.

Vigilance is no easy task. From a psychological perspective, it can be defined as “a state of extreme awareness and watchfulness directed by one or more members of a group toward the environment … characterized by an ability to attend and respond to stimulus changes for uninterrupted periods of time,” according to the American Psychological Association’s Dictionary of Psychology. Staying vigilant demands sustained, focused attention. And this is difficult, as any air traffic controller, night shift worker, or grade school student could tell you!

Contrary to popular belief, however, staying vigilant is not just difficult because it is boring. Rather, as one psychological review put it, “vigilance tasks are exacting, capacity-draining assignments that are resource demanding, as revealed by both behavioral and neural measures.” We have a hard time keeping watch not because we are understimulated but because we have limited attentional resources.

This psychological fact has great relevance for our spiritual lives, as well. How many times have I struggled to stay awake during a late-night hour of Eucharistic adoration? How often have I failed in my vigilance during holy Mass, allowing my attention to drift toward thoughts about practical concerns? How half-heartedly have I kept watch against the temptations that tend to lead me into familiar patterns of sin? These things happen not because spiritual things are boring but because we have used up our finite attentional capacity on lesser things.

Let us turn back to this week’s Gospel. Jesus criticizes the people who, in the days of Noah, were too busy “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” to recognize that the flood was about to carry them away. Likewise, the Lord draws a distinction between the two workers in the field and the two women grinding at the mill: “one will be taken, and one will be left.” The one who is “left” has fixated his or her attention entirely on the task at hand, while the one who is “taken” has one eye on the work and the other on the Lord who is coming. Eating, drinking, marrying, and working are all important, noble things; they are some of the best things in life! But Christ warns us that if we spend all our attention on them, we will not be able to pay attention to Him.

In today’s culture, I think the Lord might have told this parable differently: “Two men will be in the office on their laptops; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be scrolling on their iPhones; one will be taken, and one will be left.” We live in what multiple authors have called the “Age of Distraction” in which digital technologies almost constantly compete for our limited attentional resources. A recent survey found that Americans spent an average of 5 hours and 16 minutes per day on their phones in 2024 (not including time spent on other screens and devices). Over half of those surveyed wanted to cut down on their smartphone usage, and 49 percent reported feeling “addicted” to their phones. If we find ourselves among the phone-addicted, we may be in danger of “being left” when the Son of Man comes.

How do we exercise Advent vigilance in the Age of Distraction? A good first step would be to check our daily screen time on our smartphones. This act requires great courage; we are often horrified to find how much time we have sunk into social media, YouTube, or half-conscious scrolling on the internet! Confronting this reality, however, is an essential prerequisite to a fruitful observance of Advent. If I am regularly spending too much time on my phone, then I cannot devote the “extreme awareness and watchfulness” that vigilant prayer requires.

“If we find ourselves among the phone-addicted, we may be in danger of ‘being left’ when the Son of Man comes.”

Every smartphone keeps track of screen time data; mine even has a “Digital Wellbeing” app that allows me to set a daily goal (2 hours, in my case). I do not always reach this goal – this past week, I succeeded five out of seven days – but it has forced me to become more aware and conscious of my phone usage.

As we begin our Advent vigilance, perhaps we all could prayerfully consider what a realistic Advent screen time goal might be. How much can I limit the digital distractions in my life and make more time for silence, study, and prayer? If we do this, then we will be better prepared to recognize the Lord Jesus when He comes, in both expected and unexpected moments.

Father Zane Langenbrunner is parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Fort Wayne.