Dental Sorrowful Mysteries

 Nothing brings me quicker and deeper into prayer than a dentist appointment. Today I had over a two hour appointment and another is forthcoming in three weeks.   

Thanks to the two hours plus appointment, I managed to pray all four mysteries of the Rosary. I never noticed how apropos the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are, to being at the dentist's.  While waiting in the waiting room, I prayed the Agony in the Garden. Add the Scourging at the Pillar. Sitting in the dental chair, I thought, how coincidental that I'm being fitted for a crown, while praying the Crowning of Thorns.  Of course, the ordeal itself, was The Way of the Cross, and the Crucifixion.

The appointment was over two hours, so I also prayed the Joyful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries. That's 200 Hail Mary's.  It helps.  Praying always helps.

I also used my rosary ring, to pray.  It was spinning!

Going to the Dentist is Like Going to Confession

1. You pray before going.
2. You don't want to go.
3. You know you should.
4. You try to forget about going.
5. You make yourself go.
6. You prepare to go.
7. You prayerfully and patiently await the service.
8. You give thanks to God that's it's over.
9. You promise to do better.
10. You feel so clean and spiritually good about yourself.

Whew!  Deo Gratias.

Amen!

Mindfulness at the Dentist

What a joke? I still say the teachers of mindfulness and those that think that stress is cause by the future are wrong. The premise is wrong. It's more stressful to be hit with the unexpected present: accidents, unexpected happenings, and just plain "life", than the future.

Who worries about the future? Or rather, why would anyone worry about stuff that may never happen? Like I said in my previous posting, turn it over to God. He's the only One Who can use the bad to make good.

This was all brought to mind, today, as I sat in the dentist chair. I wasn't that worried, or anxious. The dentist was fitting me for my bridge. No pain involved.

Then he took a hammer. That's right a HAMMER! That tool that you hit a nail with. He took a hammer and started smacking my teeth with it. Now tell me honestly, would that cause stress, or would you be thinking about tomorrow's stress? The dentist was trying to loosen my temporary bridge. See if you can practice mindfulness with a man smacking a hammer on your teeth.

Good Lord. Thank God I'm Catholic and believe in redemptive suffering.

The Dentist

I did a lot of praying today. I spent five hours in the dentist chair! If that doesn't give you religion, what will?

Thank God I have a relationship with God. What do people who don't, do in painful situations? Just suffer?

Besides thinking that suffering has a purpose, and for this I offer up my suffering, I also think I am uniting myself with Jesus and His suffering. What really gives me comfort is to know that God is beside me through all this. It keeps me calm and at peace.

If I didn't have that grace, I'd be very stressed, anxious, upset, and just plain angry at the situation.

Strangely, even though I was put through the mill today, I feel blessed.

BTW, my front teeth were prepared for a five unit bridge. I had one extraction and the rest will all filed down to fit into the crowns on the bridge. It's an ordeal.