“Why Was I Mortified ?”

I’m hopeful that as you get older there’s a tendency to “think correctly” more often than in the past ….that wisdom has increased over the  many years…. that you’re able to distinguish the important from the trivial.  While I’m cautiously optimistic that this has occurred in my life, I know there’s still room to grow. Sometimes the Lord gives you a little test to see where you stand.

Several years ago I was attending mass at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine in Raritan. The priest was giving his homily when I heard someone’s cell phone go off…you know the little jingle….”do te do…do do de do….do de do…” I’m thinking that’s really rude …they should silence their phone. The priest obviously felt the same way as he corrected the guilty party from the pulpit. Suddenly I realized it was my phone….. auuuugh … I’m frantically reaching for my phone, pressing every button I could find. I knew it was going to do a repeat if I didn’t turn it off correctly, so I got up and headed out of church. I have to say I was mortified. I did later return into church with a bag over my head, but I think everyone knew it was me.

What struck me about this incident was how I reacted. I felt bad about it…. yet there was no sin involved…. I didn’t sin, I really didn’t even use poor judgement (I think one of my kids had been fooling with the phone and turned on the ringer). Yet on other occasions I have sinned and kind of “brushed it off”… sure I was irritable, but I had a hard day…. sure I ate that box of “Hello Debby Oatmeal Pies”, but I was stressed out…. sure, I robbed that bank, but I needed the money…”

As the years have passed, when something happens that is unpleasant or unfortunate or even traumatic…..I do often ask the question, “gee, is there sin involved, has God’s holy will been violated”… if not, then let’s just deal with the situation. If there is no sin and wrongdoing involved, then let’s calm down and deal with the situation….. “okay we have a flat tire, okay Shoprite is out of Twinkies, okay my cell phone went off and Fr. Igor called me out…it’s not the end of the world…. Jesus still loves me…”

And even if sin is involved, we have a remedy available to us in the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ….we can repent. And that is very good news.

P.S. As a footnote to the story, now when someone else’s cell phone goes off in mass, I smile and say a quick prayer that they are able to silence it quickly…. and I thank God it wasn’t my phone.