At Mass...

So I have to admit, I was not very excited about going to church this morning.  Certainly, I wanted to receive Jesus in the Eucharist and have His Presence with me in a special way today, but I was not thrilled at the idea of taking 5 boys by myself to the hour service.  Paul is out of town on a work trip, and it's stressful without his extra set of arms to help with the little ones.  Plus, I was already exhausted before we left the house because I was awake a majority of the night as an "all you can eat buffet" for my nursing infant.  I think God must have known I needed some extra grace today, because I was given so many sweet moments with my kids at Mass that my heart was just overflowing all the way through the service.

The first sweet moment came as we entered the church and we all dipped our fingers into the holy water font to bless ourselves.  Nathanael, our 2-year-old, dipped his entire hand into the water and proceeded to bless his entire body with the sign of the cross...starting at his head, then squatting to reach his toes, then side to side to get each shoulder a few times each while still in the squatting position.  It was adorable and filled my heart to the brim.

The next precious moment came as I watched my two older boys dressed in their lily-while altar serving albs come up the aisle carrying candles as the Mass began.  They looked so handsome, so reverent, and so holy.  Little Michael even got the special privilege today of ringing the bells during the Consecration of Jesus' Body and Blood.  He rang those bells right on cue, with a perfect mix of confidence and humility on his face.  Joy started spilling over the sides of this mother's heart.

Then, all throughout the Mass, I was blessed to hold baby Isaiah who cooed peacefully, while his two little brothers constantly tried to make him smile.  It was so beautiful to watch them love on each other rather than annoy each other.  (Although there was one funny moment when Nathanael said to me in his sweet toddler voice, "Tell Dominic to stop antagonizing me."  I didn't know 2-year-olds could pronounce such a big word!  It sounded so cute coming out of his mouth, and what made it even more humorous was that, in reality, it was Nathanael doing the antagonizing, NOT Dominic.)  Thankfully, the antagonizing never got out of hand and I never had to do the "walk of shame" to take the boys to the back of the church for misbehaving.  What a relief!

So, I not only survived the Mass, I was able to celebrate the Mass as God intended---full of joy, thanksgiving, love, and praise! 

And so we bought donuts on the way home...Amen! Alleluia! :o)

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