Try This Breath Test

Many church bulletins have popularized this "breath test": Hold this page near your face and blow on it. If it turns green, call your doctor. If brown, see your dentist. If purple, consult your local psychiatrist. If red, call your broker immediately. If yellow, arrange with your lawyer to prepare your will. If it remains the same color, you're in good health, so there's no reason why you should not attend church this coming Sunday.

Debunking poor excuses for any form of spiritual sloth could easliy become a full-time job for any pastor. Instead of a "breath test," we all need to take a gut-level "honesty test" periodically to check our motives. the results may surprise us. For instance, is it really true that we don't have time for prayer or Bible reading? Do we really take seriously the obligation to tithe to the Lord's work? Is our forgiveness of our enemies really "from the heart" as Jesus commands? Do we really mean it when we say, "Thy will be done?"

Paul reminds us (see Romans 2:!5-16) that our conscience may excuse us, but it may also accuse us, and that Jesus will judge us ultimately on the basis of the secrets of our conscience. One day "the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" (Lk 2:35) by the "God who knows the heart" (Acts 15:8). On that day our feeble excuses will melt like wax in a blazing sun. It behooves us to surface our motives to our own conviction before the Lord does.

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net