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Focus is Important

25 March 2004, 10 am | Koan

A man goes to his priest and says, “Father, I try to be a good Christian, but I also smoke. Is it alright if I smoke while praying?”

The priest frowns and replies, “My son, praying is a conversation with God; it is for the purification of the soul. It would be a shame to interrupt that with something as impure as smoking.”

The man thanks the priest and leaves.

A week later, the man comes back and asks the priest, “Father, I try to be a good Christian, but I also smoke. Is it alright if I pray while smoking?”

The priest smiles and replies, “My son, you may pray anytime.”

— joke told by Mark Pilgrim’s grandfather

Trackbacks

  1. ...there's a difference between "doing x while praying" and "praying while doing x", it's obvious, but just what is that difference? I think the difference in not only in attitude, but in primary allocation of a piece of time...

    ∼ πλ · 27 March 2004, 9 am · at From the Anchor Hold ¬

Comments

  1. This is also found in the desert fathers….an age old question, it seems!

    ∼ πλ · 25 March 2004, 11 am · by Karl Thienes ¬

  2. I am not surprized to hear that it originated with the desert fathers. What little I have read of them, I keep running across in other things.

    ∼ πλ · 25 March 2004, 6 pm · by Mark ¬

  3. Dear Mark,
    I ran across your blog today and was very happy to find it. I have marked it as a favourite. I was originally looking for blogs which would not have content that would be disturbing (too many surprise-shock experiences on the net), and from there I drifted over to spirituality—and there was your funny comment about your little mess on the field called the net! I like your comments about your family. :-)

    ∼ πλ · 27 March 2004, 3 pm · by micheailin o'cinnsealach ¬

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