Saturday 12th November - Aching and Silence

Photo credit to JeRoenMurre

Today I've been sat in a room, at a desk, reading and typing. I returned five books to the library only to take out nine. Though I consoled myself with a box of noodles, I noticed that on my way to and from church, these last few days have been really tiring. Not only does my body feel really stiff, I've made a habit out of falling asleep at the blink of an eye. Once, sitting in the living room whilst reading, I seemed to blink and an hour had passed. Another time I was sitting at my desk typing away on Maximus, and the next thing I knew I was looking at the wall to the right of me. Falling asleep unintentionally can be quite disorientating. I wasn't really sure what day it was or whether I had given myself permission to have a quick siesta at my chair *shrugs* Anyway, I've thought of some ways to help sort this out:

1. Lie down on the floor (Back pains have been getting progressively worse with stress and what not, also it would be safer than falling asleep standing)
2. Relax as opposed to procrastinate
3. Have a massage (Any volunteers? Drop me an email ->)
4. Getting my work done well in advance of the deadline (It's too late to do this this time round, and highly unlikely I will ever succeed in doing so in the future)
5. Closing my eyes and forgetting about everything (NB To implement this would be dangerous. I would risk feeling the wrath of my dissertation supervisor [in other words a facebook message as to my whereabouts], or even worse, transforming into a sloth. Failure to submit work and not attend exams would also mean failing my degree. Subsequently resulting in not managing to make it in the journalism sector, instead, working in McDonalds earning minimum wage, missing the chance to have a husband, children, and a nice house in the suburbs because I'm too busy cultivating grease in my hair and skin, in turn contracting some kind of horrible disease from frying things all day, and dying sad, alone - not even any cats to keep me company - and covered in acne at the age of 35)

I think we can safely rule out number 5.

Apart from the feeling that this dissertation is slowly killing me (I plan to do two all-nighters to get this done), I want to share with you my thoughts on tonight's Mass.

The sermon this evening was a continuation of a catechesis on the new translation of the Roman missal. Talking about the words of consecration, the priest brought up the importance of 'sacred silence'. He said that after receiving Communion, it is important for us to observe this 'sweet silence' as we contemplate being in the presence of God, praying to Him as we kneel. Now, he also took this opportunity to address something that's been somewhat of an embarrassment in the parish up here in St Andrews.

Unfortunately, many people have been leaving Mass as soon as they've received Communion. Not only is it disrespectful to God but it's distracting to hear the church door bang every time someone leaves. Apparently, last week alone, thirty-one people had left before the final blessing. Now I know it doesn't sound like much, but for a small parish like ours, that's a good few pews of missing people. He said that he understood people have things to do and places to be, but God only asks (as a minimum, bear in mind) for one hour a week.

Right at this moment I could hear people behind me sniggering and talking. I ignored it and continued to listen. Sitting there I found myself agreeing with Fr Andrew. God doesn't ask much of us, so one hour a week is the least we can provide Him. To illustrate, he provided an example: Imagine you're standing at the traffic lights waiting for the green man to come up. You can see that there's no traffic whatsoever and decide to cross. But something stops you. You see a mother and child on the other side of the road. She is teaching him to wait for the green man to show that it's safe to cross. So, being the responsible adult that you are, you wait, setting an example for the young boy. Fr Andrew's point was that we should do the same. By leaving early we are sending the wrong signal to younger members of the congregation.

Once his sermon had ended, the talkative people behind me got up and quickly left. Something tells me they weren't really listening.

EDIT: Thanks to my friend for pointing out that you can't see who the photo credit's for. Stupidly forgot the caption box is white ... It must be because ITV is playing old X Factor auditions.