Two Serious Distractions to Our Work - at Least They Are to My Work - 2

So last time we identified "the vaccine" as the first of two distractions that have stuck their noses under my tent at work. Let's move on to the second distraction. 

While the COVID "vaccine" has only recently arrived on the scene, this second distraction's been around - for decades. Only it hasn't been a distraction at work until recently. We're talking about the state of our dear Holy Mother Church. Or maybe a better description might be the dysfunctional state.

We've been over a lot of the specifics of the dysfunction many times in the past. It started even before I began full-time work after college. In all this time, it's not been the more or less steady distraction at work that it's become recently. So why recently?

For one thing, when the C-Virus Mess descended on us, most of us lost access to Holy Mass and the Sacraments. No one thought the closing of churches would last as long as it did. Indeed, some of us thought that closing our churches and withholding the Sacraments was - to put it charitably - a poor decision. 

If you've read this blog in the past, you know that we've questioned the actions of our purported shepherds. In our own Archdiocese, for example, our Cardinal virtually disappeared. Unfortunately our pastor would not - and still does not - allow Communion on the tongue. And when our church finally reopened for Mass, the Sacrament of Confession was not and still has not been offered in a private space. To access Confession - which is offered before the anticipated Mass on Saturday evening - you must enter the sanctuary and sit at a distance from the priest, who sits on one side of the sanctuary, in front of all present in the church. Being visible is one thing. But with the acoustics of our church, your voice can be heard throughout!

As the weeks and months rolled by, this whole concatenation of bad decisions has had a kind of wearing-down effect. 

Now throw in the antics being jettisoned out of the Vatican. (Do I need to explain?) Add to this the latest combination of strange and some would argue heretical "teachings" in various papal documents. Never mind the support of political candidates who openly, enthusiastically support abortion, along with the acceptance of the practice of artificial contraception, homosexual practices, highlighted by the placing of a pagan statue on the high altar in St. Peter's Basilica, directly over the bones of St. Peter. 

And, naturally, Bergoglio, and many of his Bishops, are pushing us to "get the vaccine." Indeed our own pastor actually included this exhortation in a sermon a couple of weeks ago! So Distraction #2 now combines with Distraction #1 in a one-two punch to the gut.

There's more, but you get the picture. The slow, tortuous progression of recent decades, since Vatican II, has been ramped up to warp speed come to a head. Ironically, I had, after much prayer and effort, recently refrained from my usual complaints of bad music, banal sermons, and "liturgy lite" at our Novus Ordo church. But all those straws finally broke this camel's back. While I've managed to more or less contain my expression of dismay to my long-suffering wife, it seems I'm carrying that broken back to work every day. And this despite my refusal to indulge in reading all those "trad" blogs whose posts serve to exacerbate what is already a painful situation. Okay, a few offer helpful info or advice. But there's just too much stirring up of emotions and too many personal attacks. How does all that help us lead a more authentic and peaceful Catholic life?

You know what? Having considered what I just wrote, I think it's time to suck it up and get on with my work today. As I do, I've just made a resolution to just defer to God's Will. Maybe He'll give me the grace I need to eliminate these distractions during the work day. Attending to my work won't be form of accepting all the dysfunction. It will simply be attending to the duties of my state of life with diligence and full attention - something we all should be doing every day.

So there's at least some solution to these two serious distractions. Naturally, it came down to recognizing the primacy of God's Will. And it also comes down to accepting what God permits - like it or not.

Putting God's Will first takes "self" out of the mix. What I prefer doesn't matter, unless what I prefer is God's Will. With that, I'll just ask for the grace I need to accept God's Will. And with that, perhaps those two serious distractions will lighten up enough to get out of the way when I sit down to tackle that list of tasks awaiting me today at work.