The culprit, along with his mother and older brother, slid into the pew in front of us. I told myself to stop judging the boys' apparel (t-shirt and gym shorts separated by boxers) and just be glad they were there. I was pleasantly surprised to see the boy immediately begin reading a thick book. Wow, he's reading the Bible! I thought. But I quickly realized that this was in fact some novel involving gambling.
Which he did not put down. The entire mass. It's not like this was some young kid or anything either. We're talking early high school here - clearly old enough to know better. He read while sitting down. He read while standing up. He read while kneeling. He even read through the prayers!
This in itself I might've been able to handle. But this was not all. The boy had (drumroll please)... a cell phone. You know where this is going, right?
He received no fewer than half a dozen text messages during the one hour long service. Every time he got one, his phone would start flashing. Of course, he was so busy reading his book that it took him a few minutes to notice it, but my husband and I would notice it immediately. Each time he got one, my temperature rose another degree. I tried keeping my eyes closed to ignore it, but it was inevitable that every time I opened them his stupid phone would light up again.
I happen to have the same phone. Let me tell you, the temptation to reach down and turn it off was almost overpowering. Maybe if I just gave him a seering look he would get the point? But darn it all, the gospel for the day was Jesus telling us to love one another! So I took a deep breath. What would the loving reaction be? It was probably not the best Christian example to glare at him.
To be honest, the devil on my shoulder was more into criticizing this boy and his mother than figuring out a loving response. By the time the homily was over, I was ready to go all Jesus and the money changers on this kid.
Finally, the passing of the peace came. This was my one chance. When he finally put down his book long enough to shake hands, I grasped his hand and nicely asked "Could you please turn your phone off?"
Okay, maybe my tone of voice wasn't the sweetest, but it at least wasn't completely rude. The boy looked a little surprised and said sure. He then picked up his phone, fumbled with it for 0.2 seconds, and set it back down on the pew.
Here's where I would like to say that praying for help and seeking the loving response solved the problem. It didn't. The boy had the audacity to not actually turn the phone off. The screen was still lit up and everything. I fumed through the rest of mass. My lucky husband heard about it the entire ride home.
Even though I didn't do anything wrong (my self-righteous self was sure of that), I came out on the losing end yesterday morning. I was ugly - on the inside if not on the outside. I let my frustrations win. The one redeeming aspect was that I was renewed with a thankfulness for God's mercy. It's just as obvious to Him if I'm ignoring His call as it was to me that the boy was ignoring the mass. I'm as guilty as the boy of allowing myself to be distracted.
But speaking practically here, what should I do next time? No matter how close to the front I sit, there will still be people to judge (unfortunately my pride will make sure of that) and interruptions I'm powerless to stop. Do you have any suggestions for dealing with these things? Have you ever had one of these overwhelming distractions during church? What did you do, or wish you had done?