Furthermore…

Every day each serious Catholic does something to be proud of, and something that went badly (in the light of Christ). At least! Maybe, actually, six or eight or eighty things of both kind. But probably a single one stands out at the end of the day, for instance at the time of examination of conscience. (Not examining the conscience at the end of the day is a good example of something going badly.)  Many  of us bloggers post things which give a glimpse into our everyday lives, others don’t feel comfortable doing anything like that. The latter could do as the callers to talk shows do, present an account as though it involves ‘a friend’.

Yesterday I was told by my teaching partner in the 5th grade catechist program to report at 2 pm for fingerprinting (an established routine here to weed out bad apples from contact with children and other vulnerable people). When I got to the office, no one was there, so I went to another office, vaguely remembering that the other office had been mentioned at one time as the place where the fingerprinting was done. When I inquired there the lady told me I had to have a bunch of preliminary things done before I could come for fingerprinting. I was somewhat frustrated, and a little bit angry at getting something of a run-around. Why was I told to report when nothing was in readiness?

I wasn’t proud or myself, but I think I did pretty well, remaining civil to that lady and not being angry at her, even though I probably was rather curt and distant. Anyway, I went back to the first office and finally was able to do what was intended.

It’s the old problem of having  irritation at the disparity between expectations and reality. For the person with a well developed virtue of humility, such irritation wouldn’t arise, and it would be a snap to take unexpected things in stride.