Collage of Thoughts

A dear friend of mine (who I think is an atheist) posted the following status update this morning: 

All of the international partners I work with have the entire week off for Easter. A lot of them have very generous, mandated vacation packages as well. Why is the USA the greatest country in the world again?

It took all my will power not to respond with:

Must be that whole "Government hates religious expression" business we've been combating.

*sigh*

Since I know he had no intention of sparking a religious / political debate, I held my tongue (or fingers, I guess).  Besides, not everyone in our government is anti-religious expression.  Just seems to be the top dogs.  Le sigh.

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St. Peter's Denial

I remember the first time I was stuck working for Good Friday.  The previous years I'd planned my vacation days to coincide with the days of Holy Week I wanted to observe.  Even as a fallen away Catholic I'd be sure to take off on Good Friday so I could at least spend some time in reflection / prayer.

Anyway, the first time I had to work I felt like I was somehow betraying Jesus.  Instead of accompanying Him to Calvary, I was sitting behind a desk updating lesson plans and making phone calls that I knew were absolutely pointless.  I stole into the bathroom for a few moments at 3pm, but it just wasn't the same.  I was miserable the entire day, because as I said, I really like I was betraying Jesus (and to a certain extent, His Mother).

I'll be keeping folks in the same boat this year in my prayers on Friday (I have off, thank God!).  Special thanks to Michelle from Liturgical Time for reminding me that I'm lucky enough to spend my time in prayer this year.

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I realized I felt similarly last night.  I was trying to pray the rosary, but could hear a conversation going on downstairs between my husband and a friend.  I wasn't really praying so much as reciting mindlessly, and I realized that I must've found the conversation between John and his friend more interesting than Christ's Passion.  I was subconsciously putting more value on the conversation I was paying attention to than the prayers I was supposed to be participating in. 

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I imagined being presented with two options.  Follow Christ along the road towards Salvation and be an active witness to His Mercy, or listen to pointless musings between my husband and his friend that have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on me.

Once I viewed it in this way, I closed the door to block out the sound and was better able to focus on what I was supposed to be thinking about.  Sometimes we really do need a swift kick in the pants to set our priorities straight... to take inventory of the things that really matter.

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