Chapter 43: Late-comers for the work of God or in the refectory (paragraphs 1-3)

When the time comes for one of the Divine offices to begin, as soon as the signal is heard, everyone must set aside whatever they may have in hand and hurry as fast as possible to the oratory, but of course they should do so in a dignified way which avoids giving rise to any boisterous behaviour. The essential point is that nothing should be accounted more important that the work of God. (From para. 1 of Ch. 43 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Interruptions are almost always a blow to my ego. If not outwardly, at least inwardly I'm likely to get cranky when they occur and break my focus. But my own unfocussed procrastination makes me cranky, too. It's an odd relationship that I have with time and attention, that Benedict is helping me to correct: Be in the present, turn to God, flow.