Holy Reminders

While at work today I excuse myself to visit the ladies room. Upon entering I see a line of ladies waiting for their turn. I noticed that everyone was watching one particular lady at the front of the line. She was standing there splashing water on herself, taking paper towels and getting them wet and rubbing her body with them. She would continue the procedure until her whole body was cleansed, including her feet which she put into the sink. I wished at that moment that I could join in on the foot cleansing because my feet ached and cold water seemed to appeal to me and my feet with hopes of relieving some foot pain. I didn't though, put my feet in the sink, because one person doing this drew enough attention in the ladies room without me having to roll up my pant legs and joining in on the fun.



All the ladies in the room I'm sure, not excluding me, were wondering what she was doing. Some were rolling their eyes and some were whispering. I thought she was a brave woman doing what she was doing because it was not something that you encounter too often. I believe the women in the room wanted to address the situation but were not quite sure how to begin or conjure up the nerve to do so, so the room remained quiet.



Or at least QUIET UNTIL.......I became the first in line for the next opening of a restroom partition. My initial thought was that this lady must have an unfortunate home life or be possibly transient and she just stopped in for a quick bath. I probably watch to many movies considering what I eventually discovered of this young lady.



The Awe Ha moment finally came into focus when I offered to help her pick up her soiled paper towels off the floor. I asked her if she was okay considering that she was splashing water on herself, was she hot, flushed, should I call someone???? Those were all questions that needed to be asked, or so I thought. She kindly spoke to me and apologized for the mess, but continued to informed me that she was cleansing her body as she was preparing to go into prayer. She explained that certain times of the day she must cleanse so she can pray with a clean body, a clean mind and a clean spirit. She prays seven times a day at a certain hour. She is from Pakistan.



Here is the other Awe Ha moment.... I should have known better. It just goes to show that I am or maybe we all are sometimes in our own little worlds thinking everyone thinks like us. This is America, different people, different faiths. I should have known. Now I do.


I am no longer in the front of the line as I am now in my personal partition, hiding and feeling like a stupid idiot. Okay, I get it.




I started thinking, maybe I shouldn't think so much, however after that moment I started reflecting back on my childhood as my grandparents prayed at different hours of the day, seven times a day. When I would go visit my grandparents on the weekends they would have us pray with them. It didn't matter what we were doing, we stopped, we got out our prayer books and we prayed. It all started coming back to me. In my world, this is called the 'Liturgy of the Hours'. Most people of my faith only pray several times a day in this fashion now, the world is to busy, to fast paced, but the devout ones pray seven times. I was thinking, here I go again, that just last weekend I really wanted to increase my prayer time and I had actually thought about this form of prayer. God knows I need more prayer in my life.



We all have our traditions and holy reminders. As I was leaving the ladies room I grabbed a hold of my necklace which is a medal or cross of St. Benedict. St. Benedict had a deep faith in the Cross and worked miracles with the sign of the cross. His devotion to the cross gave rise to a medal with his image on it holding a cross in one hand and a tablet with the rule of the monks in the other. The rule was simply "Walk in God's way with the Gospel at their side". They too prayed seven times a day. This medal helps remind us to pray for strength in times of temptation. A Holy Reminder.



Wearing my necklace fosters an expression of my faith an a devotion to God and the saints. It is a Holy Reminder to me to pray and give thanksgiving. The words in Latin by St. Benedict on the medal reads " May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death!"



I have lots of St. Benedict medals. Two of my medals were my grandparents. When they died I asked for their medals. I treasure them with childhood memories of their devout faith to God and their example of life that they passed onto me. I have since collected many more St. Benedict medals from Benedictine monks, blessed by them and will eventually be passed down to my children.



I wonder if the young woman in the ladies room was wondering what my medals represented? I wonder if she knew that I too have prayed 7 times a day. I wonder if she knows what an impression she left on me today.



I was very inquisitive.



She was very devout, seven times a day.