Oh, he was furious when we turned onto Stillhouse:
I don't like going to church twice a week!He actually bought it! LOL. He's so easily duped.
But CCD was cancelled last night, so we're making up for it.
I knew he would like the two main differences: way fewer people and much shorter duration. Spot on - he did!
I told him where we sat was up to him. He gestured to the cry room. Uh, no. He ran up to the choir loft, our weekend cloister, but I beckoned him back. No, somewhere in the main sanctuary.
So he walked and walked and walked down to just outside the sacristy, in front of a statue of the BVM. I just told him that, in order to sit so close, in view of everyone, he would need to behave. My warning made zero impression.
The celebrant whispered a "good morning" to us on his way to the sacristy. I was fumbling with my weekday book, a hefty single volume edition, so unwieldy. My kids like to pull all the ribbons out of place. I suppose I can't blame them. I always seem to have too many ribbons; I must not be marking everything.
Now, when I was a kid, I enjoyed watching the movements and gestures carried out during the Liturgy of the Eucharist and, sitting so close, Tim's attention was captivated a bit. At one point, 'though, he reached around me while I was kneeling and removed my cell phone from my pocket. He brandished it about, threatening to take pictures, as I lunged to get it back. He handed it over after I made a bribe of "hospitality" afterwards, a.k.a. Dunkin' Donuts.
For the sake of my mental health, I've blocked the rest of his antics from memory, except for his unexplained disappearance at the beginning of communion ... and his sudden reappearance, bolting down the center aisle from the vestibule to my side.
I can still hear the sound of his penny loafers on the carpet, trotting up behind me. My mother had a habit of burying her face in her hands after communion. I'm beginning to have an idea of why ...
2 comments:
I really enjoyed this one. I always feel for the parents with small kids in Church. Good deal taking him to daily mass. We have one family whose son serves every day of the week I believe. Not only that but he stumped our priest last week during adult formation class with a question about the mass.
The Mass is powerful and even if we don't see it, the grace flows abundantly.
The Mass is powerful and even if we don't see it, the grace flows abundantly.
I do agree.
Of all the kids, I took him the most, several times a week, during his first two years of life. Then he became too unruly and I had another child by then, too! So we stopped and, as yet, my morning schedule hasn't allowed for a regular return ... but I resist the temptation to "wish the days away" - it'll come again, in due time. - Eccl. 3:1
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