I was all geared up to attend the Easter Vigil Mass this coming Saturday.

Then my pastor last night mentioned that there would be forty baptisms.

WOW!

But, no thanks.  I just don’t have the energy for that this year.

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Last night, I took the 5 youngest kids {five youngest kids: that phrase makes me laugh at the me of 10 years ago who could barely handle 3 little children}…I took the 5 youngest children to the 4 pm vigil Mass.  We arrived about a minute before show time, later than I hoped, and the church was pretty full.  I pushed my way toward the front, even though it would mean we would not have an aisle seat, a risky move when one has an infant.

Side note: why, oh why, does everybody come in and sit on the aisle?  I guess it’s ok if the church isn’t typically full.  But our Masses are all very full.  If you sit on the aisle, people will have to ask you to move, either to the middle or out of their way as they climb over you.  I usually sit in the middle when entering an empty pew.  Unless I have George.  Or unless I’m with my entire family.  We take up the whole row.

I ended up squeezing 6 of us into 4 seats – our church has individual chairs because we are saving to build a real church.  Fortunately, the seats are connected, and George doesn’t need a seat, so it was crowded, but fine.  We were in the middle of elderly couples, all of whom had secured the aisle seats.  I felt a chill in the air, as though I were an interloper sitting in reserved seats.  It was bad enough that I had sat among them, but I had children, too.  Horrors.

Fortunately, God was smiling on me and George fell asleep without much ado.  He stayed sleeping even through being buckled into his seat and driving home.  After Mass, one smiling woman felt moved to tell me how wonderfully my family had behaved.  I hope the other couples felt the same way.  It’d be nice to think we’re spreading a bit of joy to others.

Note to self: do not be a grumpy old person.

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Speaking of spreading joy, I was at stations of the cross two Friday evenings ago, and had to relocate to the rear of the church with a fussy baby.  A woman entered a bit late and sat right next to me as I was nursing him, even though there were plenty of empty seats a bit farther on.  Later I realized she was waiting for someone.  After George was done, I allowed him to crawl around as we alternated between standing and kneeling.  At one point, while kneeling, George crawled over to her, climbed up on her and allowed her to hold him while he smiled and laughed.  It is not at all like him to be that way with strangers, but I think he was fascinated by her glasses which were so much like mine.  It was only for a minute or two, but I could tell she was absolutely delighted.  She seemed about ten years older than I, so likely there are few infants in her daily life.  I was happy to share mine with her, even briefly.

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Since the new year, I’ve been participating in The Year of Faith 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge which takes you through 14 narrative books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Maccabees, Luke, and Acts.  I had already read all but Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 Maccabees, but I had not read them straight through in such a condensed time period.  Most days, there were 4 or 5 chapters to read, which took about 15 minutes, sometimes a bit more.  It’s been great.  One new year’s resolution this year was for me to read the whole Bible.  13 down, 60 books to go.

I’ve been using the USCCB’s online Bible for my reading.  (This was fine until my kindle died.)  I have also been reading over the footnotes, which I find very helpful.  I don’t go to all the cross references, but the remarks on the historical/social aspects of the various stories help put things in context.  For example, the many times that Luke portrays Christ’s treatment of women or non-Jews with respect outside the norm is highlighted and is something that a modern reader like myself might not notice – so what? that Martha’s sister Mary sat at His feet, except that was a big deal, apparently.  Also, noted was that big portions of 1 Maccabees are given to lauding the Romans who offered protection to the small kingdom of Judah in that 1st century BC, but since it was the Romans who destroyed the Temple and sought to obliterate Judaism as well in the 1st century AD, the Jews of that era struck Maccabees from their scriptures.

Politics.

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And a great quote for the beginning of Holy Week, especially if you’ve been thinking you did a great job with your Lenten resoutions:

So should it be with you.  When you have done all you have been commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we are obliged to do.”  Luke 17:10

As my husband always says: nobody gets an award for just doing his job.  Keeping the commandments, loving our neighbor, imitating Christ.  It’s our job.

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Have a fruitful, blessed and fulfilling Holy Week.

If you have ever had a baby, you have likely had that depressing experience where you, positive that the really baggy pants that were your comfy, hanging around the house on Saturday afternoon, go-to comfort item, try to squeeze into them only to stop mid-thigh because they simply aren’t making it up.

If you have never done this, I don’t want to hear about it.

Today’s temps are expected to be in the mid-70’s (don’t hate me because I live in Florida – I didn’t pick it), so I pulled out a pair of black capris that fit me 2 summers ago, but definitely did not work even back in November (when wearing capris was still an everyday thing).  With trepidation, I cloistered myself in the bathroom with another pair of pants so that I could emerge dressed, one way or the other. 

Fortunately for my ego, the smaller size did, in fact, fit.  Not, perhaps as well yet as they did 2 summers ago, but the color is slimming and I feel optimistic that the rest of my pre-baby wardrobe may soon emerge from mothball storage (that’s a figure of speech: I wouldn’t know the first things about mothballs).  So nice to get “new” clothes without spending a dime.

And, for my added enjoyment, I put my hand in the pocket and found a very clean $10 bill. 

Double woohoo.