(no subject)
I went to the School's Lenten Service today, Gus was in the procession. I was surprised to see Doug's SUV in the lot, so I entered the church and found him, he had been saving a seat for me. It was quite crowded so I'm glad he did. The classes were already seated, though not Gus. The procession entered and Gus did well, carrying a basket of slips of the items the children were giving up for lent. He then went to sit with his class, at the end of the row, next to his Third Grade Reading Buddy.
He saw me and started to come to Doug and I, but Mrs. H., his teacher gave him the *evil teacher eye* so he stayed put. Mass started, and I was delighted to see Father Tony there. He was scheduled to be the server, but his mother passed away last Friday, so I expected a substitution.
Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. That always involves giving up sin in some form. The goal is not just to abstain from sin for the duration of Lent but to root sin out of our lives forever. Conversion means leaving behind an old way of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Christ.
We were asked to write on a piece of paper a sin which we wanted to leave behind us at the start of Lent, then offer it to the alter before we received our ashes. Doug was straining mightily to see what I had written, he then leaned over and whispered that I'm too secretive. I have nothing to be secretive about, and I told him as much. I showed him my slip, upon which I written that I shall no longer be selfish with my *me* time and devote more of myself to making my family whole.
He didn't show me his slip; I didn't ask to see it. Even though I'm pretty sure I know what the sins are which he is giving up is, I'd rather not be confronted with it in black and white. Actually purple and black as the color of the paper was purple, in keeping with the Lenten color scheme. The church was beautiful, it was barren, stripped of all of its ornamentation. I noticed the chalice was the pewter one, not the gold set .
We received our ashes, as did Gus. I noticed all of the children wanted to wipe their foreheads, but they had obviously been forewarned not to. It was rather amusing to watch 250 children try to restrain themselves thoughout the rest of the Mass.
Mass went on, and Father Tony preached a wonderful homily. I rather enjoy the children's masses, which tend to have a more positive message than the evenings fire and brimstone homilies. We learned about the Power and history of the Sign of Cross. I could hear Doug groan as Father started with the history, a sharp jab and a whispered reminder that Father Tony has been subjected to Dad's lectures and knew when to cut things off quickly quieted Doug.
Father Tony then caught all the children's attention when he told them that God had given them all superpowers. He then launched into a question and answer session about the movie The Incredibles (which I haven't seen) and the superpowers who vanquish evil. He then quickly explained that God had given each of them Superpowers to vanquish evil in their lives, via the Sign of the Cross and what it means to Catholics. Father Tony is so good at getting his message across to children. I can just image Gus signing himself constantly after that sermon.
As the Lenten service is rather long, the rest of the Mass seemed a bit of a rush, though Communion went quickly. Dough had to rush back to work, Gus to lunch, and I home.
I have resolved to not only give something up, but to add something good, so I have decided to do the daily meditations online at Sacred Space.
So, here we go, 40 days till Easter.