Cry Room Chronicles XV

This week we had special guests at Mass: Granny and Grandpa! Thanks to their help we were even early to the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Louis.

We had the Children's Chapel to ourselves at the beginning of Mass. Slowly, more children and parents trickled in. Lucy's little same-size-but-slightly-older friend showed up first. They got along really well, though it seemed at some points they were about to get into something over a book that they were both interested in. Another mom, granny and daughter showed up later, as did James, Colin, and their parents much later. The room steadily filled.

In spite of the many kids, it was a very peaceful service. Lucy was pretty low-key; she couriered books from the shelves to Grandpa and to Mommy and back and forth and hither and yon. She was pretty satisfied. Jacob stuck to his usual reading (out loud but quieter than usual). He did repeat some of what the priest said and some of the responses for the congregation. He even sang along with some hymns and parts of the Mass. He also sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the ABC song. He only asked to go upstairs right before communion and was very polite and quiet about it. Jacob even managed to put change in the poor box instead of the book-buying box like he did last week. The kids must have been on their best behavior with the grandparents there. We'll have to get some life-sized cardboard cut-outs of them for next week.

Since it rained, we were unable to play on the playground. I did see Timmy and his parents when we went to communion and afterward walking out of church. Hopefully next week's weather will be better.

I even got to listen to the sermon this week. The gospel was the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The priest brought out how the rich man never really did anything bad, but he failed to do the good he should have, especially for Lazarus. He drew a great comparison with the movie Schindler's List, where a business man at first exploited the Nazi economy to make lots of money. Then he had a turn of heart and tried to save as many of the Jews as he could. Schindler did what the rich man in the parable didn't. He used his wealth to help those in need. Not only did he give of his wealth, but he gave of himself. And that is what we are all called to do--not just share our wealth, but share ourselves.