Cry Room Chronicles XL

No, this is not an extra-large edition of the chronicles, it's number 40!

Lucy woke up at 5 a.m., took a bottle and went back to sleep, so we had no chance to make it to the 8 a.m. Mass. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out for the 9:30 Mass. We left later than we planned but early enough to get to church with seven minutes to spare, so Jacob could go potty with Mommy while Lucy and I saved some seats in front of the choir.

Mass went pretty smoothly. The kids did some crawling around but were mostly behaved right up to the sermon. Jacob decided he wanted to go downstairs then, so we acquiesced. As we were heading out, Monseigneur said to the congregation, "I have a special treat for you today. I'm not giving the homily. Instead, we have one of the seminarians for the archdiocese with us and he's from our parish..."

When we got to the children's chapel, it was fairly full. Lucy wanted a diaper change from Mommy. While they were in the bathroom, Jacob decided he wanted a drink. The water fountain was just outside, so I took him out for a sip. It must have been a mighty sip, because when we came back in he wanted to go potty. Lucy came out, Jacob went in.

The offertory came and the kids dutifully put money in. They were well behaved through the rest of Mass. Lucy was unusually reluctant at the sign of peace. I helped her shake hands. She regained her enthusiasm when we went upstairs for communion and got to put coins in the poor box. Jacob deposited two or three coins but mostly focused on wandering aimlessly. My wife went to communion early while I watched the kids. When she made it back, I went in. This system is probably going to work very well for us.

The rest of Mass was uneventful. We lit candles afterward. Jacob prayed for protection from bugs; Lucy prayed for "Heaven." They even knelt down for a bit on the kneeler by the candles, a good sign of things to come. After a stop at the playground and Dunkin Donuts, we came home quite happy.

The seminarian's sermon was to thank us for our support of the seminary. He asked for continued prayers and continues to keep us in his prayers. He also talked about Divine Mercy Sunday (today) which John Paul II* began during his pontificate. He gave this beautiful image: even if your sins are as innumerable as the grains of sand by the sea, Divine Mercy will swallow them up all in an ocean of love. So he exhorted any of us who needed it to come to confession. Monseigneur said afterward that there are 30 seminarians for the archdiocese and five of them are from St. Louis! Something must be going right here.

*Yay for his beatification today!!!