Cry Room Chronicles II

Lucy in her going-to-Church outfit, now with shoes!

We parked our car in the Church lot at 7:59 a.m., so we were as close to almost on time as you can get. The procession had already made it to the altar by the time we got in, but the first hymn was still being sung. We made our usual way down to the Children's Chapel, only to discover no sound or picture of the Mass.

We climbed back upstairs and Angie let the junior usher (he looked about 10 years old) know about the problem. Entering the church, we filed into the backmost pew we could. Lucy and Jacob were pretty squirmy today throughout the Mass.

Lucy started burbling during the first reading, so I don't know what the reading was about. She started making more noise during the homily, so I pulled out what was left of her 7:30 bottle and quieted her down. It seemed like a brilliant idea until I discovered some spit up on her dress and chin! Luckily we keep extra outfits for both children in the diaper bag. Even better was the changing table in the men's room (a lot of men's rooms don't have that). I missed the heart of the sermon but didn't have to change Lucy on the floor. As a side note, I was surprised by how many guys were using the restroom during Mass. The total must have been four or five, not counting Lucy and me.

Jacob did a lot of squirming throughout the Mass. He needed a lot of holding in our laps or blocking from escaping the pew. At one point, he banged his head into the pew by accident, so Angie had to take him out to calm him down. After they came back, Lucy wanted to switch parents, so I held Jacob through the end of Mass. He wasn't as enthusiastic about the sign of peace as he usually is. He did shake a few hands besides mommy's and daddy's. He told me he wanted to leave after that. I told him we had to go to communion and sing another song before leaving. Jacob replied, "We get body of Christ!" He was still pretty antsy to get things moving.

As we were driving home, Angie said it was a toss up as to who was the more troublesome child today. Personally, I think spitting up during the homily wins easily. I did think of telling Father that his sermon made my daughter throw up, but then I would have been the most troublesome child. What I did hear of the sermon was quite good. He started with a short overview of the history of the Feast of Corpus Christi, including its origin in 1264. Thomas Aquinas was commissioned to write part of the Divine Office and some hymns for the feast. The feast became very popular and two cities in the USA are named after it: Corpus Christi, Texas, and Sacramento, California. Sacramento is the Spanish word for "The Sacrament," since the Eucharist is the central sacrament of our Faith. The rest of the homily was lost on me, alas.

Hopefully next week the Children's Chapel will be back online!

Lucy in her post-church outfit, still with shoes

Cry Room Chronicles I

Today we were up early enough to go to the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Louis Parish in Clarksville, Maryland. Since we have a two-year old and a nearly one-year old, we quite often go to the Children's Chapel.

The Children's Chapel is a room down a staircase and down a hall from the main church. The sound from the Sanctuary is piped in and a TV mounted on the wall provides live video of the Mass. Under the TV is an altar with a crucifix and two unlit candles. Four rows of folding chairs provide seating. On the left side of the room is a roomy bathroom which allows for private diaper changes during the service. On the right side low shelves are full of sturdy, spiritual children's books, large bead rosaries, some square pieces of rug for kneeling. The set up is very nice and very helpful for us to pray while trying to corral the little ones.

Today was a pretty good worship experience. The worst thing that the children did is when Lucy stopped me from making the sign of the cross over her at the end of Mass. A lesser offense (though possibly more dangerous to her) was when she tried to pull the trash can over on top of her. The first time she did it, we caught her in time. The second time she headed over there, I got up and beat her to the trash can. The third time she stopped half way and looked back with a wicked little smile on her face. Angie and I rolled our eyes and picked her up. What kind of trouble will she cause when she's walking?

Jacob did much better than usual. He did his usual and quite altered versions of the hymns. To his credit, he sings the gospel Alleluia almost correctly. And he is very helpful in getting us hymnals and missals when we ask. He didn't shake our hands for the sign of peace, which he usually loves to do. Without other parents and children in the room, it may have been less interesting for him. He only tried to leave once or twice and sat through most of the homily.

Which was nice, since that meant we could pay more attention to the homily than to the kids. The homily discussed the Trinity (since it is Trinity Sunday) and ended with some homework! Father asked us to think of who we pray to when praying to God--God the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit. Or do we just pray to God in general, without specifying. He said that the answer would show something about our priorities or focus in spiritual life. For me, the answer is God in general. I wonder if I should be more specific in the future?