He is risen! He is truly risen! Happy and Blessed Easter to all! We were eager to get to church on time this week. Early showers and a quick breakfast meant we could make it to the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Louis. We even arrived five or ten minutes early, so Jacob could go potty before anything started. Granny is visiting and saved us some seats in front of the musicians. We sat upstairs in the main body of the church until the homily, when we finally gave in to Jacob's requests to go to the children's chapel. He did a good job whispering in church for which we are grateful.
Since today is Easter, they opened up the back wall of the chapel and doubled the seating capacity. We easily had double the number of people for the 8 a.m. Mass, so it worked out well. Jacob and Lucy's behavior was pretty subdued. They read books and wandered around, occasionally asking to go potty. Lucy did make friends with one other little girl, mostly by staring at each other.
At the offertory, an usher came in for the collection, which is unusual for the 8 a.m. Mass. Clearly he was unfamiliar because as he went to leave, he opened the bathroom door, said "whoops!" and went to the exit door. At first, we thought he was collecting most thoroughly--not even the bathroom was safe from the collection basket! Then we realized he probably mistook the bathroom door for the exit. Good thing nobody was in there!
During the sign of peace, we all shook a bunch of hands. Once the singing of the "Lamb of God" started, Jacob told someone it was too late to shake hands! Such liturgical fastidiousness comes from my side of the family, I think.
We headed up early for communion to give Jacob a chance to go potty before it was time for us to receive. Angie hatched the brilliant scheme--one of us would receive communion early and make it back to take care of the kids, just in case Jacob or Lucy had another meltdown in the communion line. This plan almost worked well. Angie didn't quite make it back in time. Lucy came in with me and Jacob stayed with Granny, so there were no problems this week. Hopefully the kinks will be worked out for next week.
Lucy did get to put a lot of coins in the poor box while we waited to go to communion, just like last week. She even got another child in on the act, again like last week. She also was just as ecstatic as last time. I'll have to get more pocket change for next week!
We didn't get back together after communion. Jacob and Angie headed straight for the children's chapel before Lucy and I came back. I thought they were in the upstairs potty, so we waited around upstairs. We wished Special Bryan (an usher who is our friend, but not our regular friend Brian) a Happy Easter. We also got to see our old friends Timmy, Luke, and Kim and wish them a Happy Easter. Finally, Lucy and I headed downstairs to get our stuff and we ran into Angie and Jacob.
Once Mass was over, Jacob decided to go potty one last time. Then we went upstairs to light some candles. Jacob and Lucy both enjoyed that. We're thinking of using candle lighting as a reward for good behavior in church.
The homily seemed brief. Maybe that's because we were in transit to the children's chapel. Maybe father wanted to give extra time for communion and such. I've listened to some comments from Vatican Radio and read some blog commentary and from a book as well, so today's reflections on the gospel are all jumbled up in my head. I don't remember what father said specifically about the gospel. I'll write my next chronicle before I take in all those other resources.
Blessed Easter to all!
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