Distraction

Last night at our SFO Fraternity meeting we were discussing devotion to Mary, which naturally evolved into a conversation about the Rosary, and the Franciscan Crown.

One of our members asked Father how he can possibly get through his daily prayers without being distracted.

Of course she meant mental distractions, and he addressed those--and he did mention that sometimes at Mass, something might catch his eye (someone moving around, for example) and distract him from the prayers. At any rate, his advice was that when you are distracted at prayer, you should just pick up and keep going, not get discouraged, because it happens to everyone.

Here's where sometimes I miss having people my own age in the Fraternity. In my house there are different distractions than these women face. It's just about impossible to get up early enough in the morning to say Morning Prayer without a three-year-old for company, and he's pretty wiggly. This morning he was in and out of my lap, wanting to turn the markers in my book and look for pictures. Finally I distracted HIM with an old holy picture that had been my grandmother's.

It shows St. Francis and St. Anthony kneeling before the Blessed Mother. He informed me that St. Anthony was "Father." (Wouldn't Father love to hear THAT?)

Sometimes you go away from prayer with only the knowledge that you tried. This time I also went away with a bit of comic relief.