We had another slow morning which meant we thought we had plenty of time to make it to the 9:30 Mass. Somehow the time got away from us and we didn't drive down the driveway until 9:22. So we were late. Today is Palm Sunday, so by the time we got into the building they were already reading the gospel, the Passion narrative from Matthew's Gospel.
At first, we tried to take the children into the main church. No seating for four seemed available. Lucy and I scouted ahead and didn't find anything on the side. By the time we returned to the back of the church Mommy and Jacob were gone. But where?
Naturally, Jacob wanted to go potty before going to the children's chapel. Angie convinced him to use the facilities in the chapel where we caught up with them. He did so; Lucy protested that she wanted to go potty too. I told her it was occupied and she'd have to wait her turn. She sat in my lap and waited. Once Jacob came out, Lucy piped up, "Lucy's turn!" She and I walked over. She decided she wanted Mommy to change her, so I took Jacob back to our chairs. He promptly wandered over to the bookshelf and began reading.
The room had three other families. Seating was tight. It looked like some chairs were missing. Things progressed fairly normally. After the collection, Jacob wanted to go to the upstairs potty. I took him. Lucy followed closely on our heals so she could get in on the action too. We wound up in the vestibule after the potty break. We were there till after communion.
Lucy decided she wanted to fill the poor box. Anticipating her desire, my pocket was full of change. She took the first coin, wandered off and sauntered back. By the fourth coin, she was running back and forth gleefully. Another young boy got his mommy to give him coins to put in the poor box. He was just as enthusiastic as Lucy. They'd take turns putting the money in and giggle on their ways back to their respective parents. Eventually I ran out of coins, but Lucy was so happy she didn't mind.
Jacob, sensing Lucy's overdraft from the bank of happiness, decided to have a melt down just before it was time to receive communion. He did not want to go into the church. He laid down and protested that he wanted to go home. Angie finally picked him up and carried him in, in spite of his protests. That was a big downer for us. Afterwards, we returned to the children's chapel for the final prayers and hymn.
Jacob asked to light a candle, so we returned to the church as people were still filing out. It was a bit like swimming upstream. We finally lit two candles, one for Jacob (whose intention was better behavior in Mass) and one for Lucy (whose intention was for our family).
It was cold and windy, so no time was spent at the playground. Also, with the extra-long gospel, no time was spent on a homily. We're looking forward to the Easter Triduum this week!
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