working on it
I was too ill to attend Mass on Sunday, so - after waiting all day to see if I felt better - Joseph took Thomas and Therese to the evening mass. When they came home, while the children scurried about preparing tea, Joe slumped on the sofa where I reclined in state and said "I really, really didn't feel like going to church tonight, but I'm so glad I did." I think, to me, this is where one of the jewels of Catholicism - at least as I see it - lies buried. There are expectations and requirements of believers, and we have to do (or not do, as the case may be) many things and while we may not "feel like it", the sustaining gladness that we have done as we should upholds us among the vicissitudes of this mortal coil. Every time I look my own moral and spiritual failings squarely in the face and, rather than despair and give up, grit my teeth and try again, I thank God for His Church. Every time we are all quietly wondering if we should just let the evenin...