Monday, July 28, 2008

My Precious Pearl...

...broke his perfect Mass behavior record today. Before I knew it, he lunged from my arms to the front pew, hopped off, and stormed the dais/altar, heading straight for the new priest, brandishing a baby hairbrush that he'd swiped from the diaper bag. I was in hot pursuit, of course, but those little legs were flying.

Fr. Newbie went all pink and actually had to cover his mouth to hide his smile, and people behind us were snickering as I swooped him up, did a horrified little bow, and headed back to the 2nd row. This did not go over well with the Boy, who was quite vociferous about it, so the Beloved did the emergency narthex evac maneuver...the shouts of rage and "Mammmmaaaaaaa!!!" echoed behind them. The girls were giggling, I just closed my eyes and thanked God and all of the saints who heard my prayers and helped send him to us.

At the sign of peace, Fr. came right down to us and told us we had a beautiful family. I apologized for the near-invasion, and he laughed and said "I wish everyone was that eager to visit our Lord!" (He did not say "to visit me.")

The Tabernacle, you see, is golden, gleaming, beautifully adorned with fresh flowers, and is high up and centrally located for all to see at the good ol' Irish church we went to for the regional "Cinders" Mass this afternoon.

I'm just sayin'.

Thank you, dear Lord, thank you Holy Family, Ss. Catherine, Jude, Gerard, Therese, James & Brendan, for prayers answered in sending the Boy, his sisters, and my Beloved to be my pearls beyond price here on Earth.

10 comments:

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

It is good to see this priest as one of the good guys, who immediately pointed to the Lord Jesus in the Tabernacle as the center of attention and not himself.

I believe truly that something about interior disposition of a child wanting to be with Jesus and recognizing Him when they're at Mass. I believe that there should be Eucharistic Adortion for children.

At least you know that he wanted to be with Jesus :) I can't blame him, I might of done the same thing :)

Larry Denninger said...

Hmmm - the priest said you "had" a wonderful family, or that you "have" a wonderful family? ;-)

gemoftheocean said...

Beautiful post. I hope he (and all of you) will always want to be that close to Jesus.

Karen

Kit said...

Larry - (hee!) Good point! I think we've crossed over into the past tense. We've been praised to the skies by little old ladies (and even a cranky closet Catholic atty we occasionally run into at Mass) for having the "perfect" church baby - never cries or yells....until yesterday.

The way he was running and had that brush up over his head, (a la your "Exterminatrix of Heresies" pic) I was afraid he might beat the priest with it. (A very nice guy, loves his Haugen and does the inclusive language thing, though...)

The Boy does have a serious warrior streak going on - he takes one of those spikey spaghetti spoons with him for our stroller walks and waves it at passing cars, hounds, and strollers - like he's going out to pillage and conquer the 'hood. We've tried substituting a wooden spoon or rubber spatula - no friggin' way. We should've named him Conan.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, very nice--keeping kids quiet--not an easy task, but they need to learn how to behave at Mass, and the only way they learn is by going.

a thorn in the pew said...

When your kids outnumber you and your husband, this is what happens(mine always ran in opposite directions, snort). But if all things happen for a reason, then you are given the one gift we never have to pray for...humility. It has always been served to me on a platter(at least durng my parenting years). God bless!

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

LOL Kit.
I love to see children run to the Lord. Mine have tried too. My older kids are well versed in the 'Before they reach the Sanctuary tackle'. hehehehe

ArchAngel's Advocate said...

Doesn't the Boy know that an Altar Call isn't part of the Catholic Tradition (Tevye starts singing "Tradiiiiition, Tradition!").

swissmiss said...

It's funny how the most embarrassing moments some how become the most endearing...days later :)

Kit said...

LOL, SM - exactly!!!