the letter of the law

last night over dinner, my mom reminded us that today being Ash Wednesday, we are supposed to observe fasting and abstinence.

ok.

i normally eat only two meals a day, brunch and dinner.  i had planned to have only one meal for today, the breakfast i had before leaving the house.  driving on a hot mid-afternoon, however, i suddenly felt hungry and thirsty.  i wanted to shrug it off but then i thought it wouldn't be good to be on the road feeling like that so i entered a grocery and got a loaf of bread and a liter of chocolate drink.  uhm, i could just have gotten water but then i wanted to meet the minimum requirement for credit card payments, i.e., a one-hundred peso purchase...  : }

i went to pick up my sister and while waiting for her at their office canteen, i ate a bit and drank a lot and the leftover bread and chocolate drink i had wanted to give away to the stall owners having snacks nearby.  i thought, however, that if i did, i'd be contributory to their non-observance of fasting.  i therefore decided to just stash away the bread in my bag while the liter-pack drink i just held in my hands.

from the canteen, i transferred to the office lobby.  it turns out my sister would be working overtime.  my waiting time lengthened therefore.  i was really tempted to offer the bread and drink to the guards.  i was thinking, however, if you can't be good, at least don't take others with you.  so there...  i tried to resist the temptation.

i fiddled with my phone but every now and then my eyes would turn to the liter-pack in front of me and i'd think of giving it away.  look, look away...  look, look away...  look, look away...  until i just found myself asking the guard whether they are allowed to eat at the lobby.

the guard said yes.

upon hearing that i just sort of mechanically gave him my drink and bread.  uh-oh...

then guess what, i heard him offering to share the bread and drink with the other guards!  waaaahhhh!!!  spreading badness!  huhuhu...  i felt really uneasy...

then suddenly i remembered:  it is not what goes into a person's mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.  (Matthew 15:11)

hmmm...  that eased the guilt somehow...

prayers that God will look kindly on me...