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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Meditation on Distraction

This morning, en route to work, I was praying the rosary and specifically meditating upon the Sorrowful Mysteries. At some point though, my mind wandered from Christ's Passion and went through a recipe catalogue somewhere in the depths of my brain. As I prayed Hail Mary's, I imagined seafood salad and came up with an ingredients list then realized how long it's been since I've made that salad.

Suddenly I realized I was praying the last two decades but couldn't recall actually pondering the Crowning of Thorns. The last thing I remembered was the beginning of Jesus being scourged and somewhere after that, the terrible weapons turned into the knives used to slice onions and celery to be added to the chopped seafood.

And I was ashamed. How, exactly, did I go from Our Lord's most Sorrowful Passion to...seafood salad on crackers?

How in the world did I manage to pray Hail Mary's, Pater Nosters (half in Latin, half English), Glory Be's, all in apparent praise of a salad?

I wasn't even hungry!

Oh, sure, Jesus said He would make us "fishers of men" but I'm sure He didn't have a chopped seafood salad in mind when He said that.

*sigh*

I'll let you know how the salad comes out when I make it next. I've got the ingredients.

In the meantime, please pray for me. I'll try to pray for you but I must warn you; I may begin with great intentions but end up prayerfully meditating on summer cole slaw, caprese salad or grilled steak instead.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha ha! Yes, sometimes when I find myself having gone off on a tangent like that it's interesting to trace my thoughts back and see how I got from praying for Japan to planning what I need to buy at Target tonight.

Susan

Adoro said...

Amazing, isn't it? Sometimes the tangents are just a reminder to pray for this or that person or situation.

The salad thing...nope. That was pure unadulterated distraction!

Anonymous said...

I've been fighting distraction for months! God help us!

kam said...

Happens to me most every morning at some point. Usually not with food, though...

Diane said...

When Fr. Solanum Casey was asked if he ever became distracted during prayers, he answered that when he didn't, he considered it a direct dispensation from God. This is a great comfort to me.