Friday keeps sneaking up on me!

Whoa, it's been a long time since I did one of these!! Thanks, as always, to Jen, our hostess with the mostest. 

--1--

The beginning of the school year is almost here!  I haven’t been a full-time student in sixteen months, but I’m still excited about the newness September brings.  As Tom Hanks so adorably says in You’ve Got Mail, “Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” 

 --2--

On the other hand, the close proximity of the fall means I need to put the final touches on my religious ed curriculum, finish shamelessly begging asking people to be catechists, and firm up the calendar.  Yikes!

 --3--

I have come to really, really, love the simplicity of daily Mass.  It’s so… easy to focus.  A priest, two dozen older people, one altar boy, the lady who lectors, and me.  It’s also nice to know that everyone is there because they want to be, not because they felt they had to come.  No one texts during the homily. No one sprints for the door after Communion.  Everyone reverences the tabernacle. It’s refreshing.   This probably means I’m just not charitable enough toward the “typical” parishioners who won’t come to Mass if it means missing the Packer pre-game show.  Clearly, I need to pray for humility.  Speaking of which....

 --4--

The Litany of Humility is awesome.  And, appropriately, very humbling.  Written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (Secretary of State for Pius X, whose memorial is today!) he used to recite it after each time he celebrated Mass.  But it's also a darn good way to start the day and remind myself that I am not, in fact, the most important person in the universe.  

--5--

I went to another wedding last weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony, but I acutely felt something lacking.  My friend married a wonderful Lutheran man.  They had a Catholic wedding but not a Mass.  It felt so….empty without the Eucharist to complete the symbolism of marriage.  

--6--

My mother and I had an actual conversation about religion, which hasn’t happened since I became Catholic two years ago.  She mentioned that she doesn’t miss the Eucharist at all, and is so much more “fed” by the good preaching at the Presbyterian church she and my dad attend.  I know God touches each of us differently…. but I wanted to weep.  The Sunday Gospels have all been from John 6 recently.  The Bread of Life discourse from 6:22-71 is *the* defining reason I love being Catholic.  I’m simply flabbergasted that my mother, with her years of Catholic education, considers the Eucharist to be negligible.  It makes me so sad for her, and mad at her catechists and professors. Sad and mad.  Smad.

 --7--

I’m starting St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy in my Soul this week, and  I’m prepared for some serious spiritual butt-kicking.  I think I love St. Faustina so much because she was overlooked and under appreciated.  Like St. Bernadette, everyone thought Faustina was stupid, and no one took her visions seriously at first.  Despite all the things she endured, she was always humble and always loving.  I need to be more like her. 

......and I'm out!