As much as I was dreading the entire process of hauling the kids off to mass yesterday, I was also a little happy that this is one of those rare years where we get to celebrate Epiphany on the ACTUAL feast day, and not just the closest Sunday.
Before you get the wrong idea, I'm not of the opinion that we should have all of our Feast Days celebrated on the day they happen- I understand how busy our priests are. They are only human and cannot possibly fulfill the duties of their vocation if we don't let them have a little down time here and there. But I still felt a little like this year it meant we were going to get the "whole" Christmas season. And since I had been of the good fortune to have a really good Advent, I wasn't ready to vomit at the sight of jingle bells and Nativity scenes.
But, it was not meant to be. S did not dodge the bullet and came down with the viral gunk. I'm not doing much better and neither was J. Soooo, in all technicality, C was healthy enough to go, but... she's 1. It kind of made the entire weekend feel like it lasted forever- and not in a good way. It was more like "Can we please go back to school/work now? This vacation has lasted forever and I'm bored out of my skull. Make the cabin fever stop!" And only after 2 days!
S and I have talked about our Sunday obligation in the past and how it really is such a gift to be obligated to attend mass on a weekly basis. And not just any day, but specifically Sunday, the beginning of the week. It sets an entire rhythm to the week, more so than just the alarm going off on Monday morning reminding you that you have to get back to work. The Sunday obligation gives us a chance to give the "first fruits" of our week to God. It also let's us wind down from the last week. It definitively closes the chapter of one week and let's us put it behind us. It's over- the good and the bad. Now we move into the next week, refocused even if we don't feel renewed. As humans, we are always in need of fresh starts. We don't want to have to carry the consequences of our mistakes or have lasting impacts from our wrong choices. At the same time we don't ever want the benefits of our good choices to stop being reaped!
I think I see the gift of obligations and boundaries even more, especially as I raise my kids. J's had a tough week, especially being on steroids for his asthma. "'Roid rage" comes to mind. He's a really sweet and tender kid. He's also 3 and has his own tendencies for defiance. And I had this struggle as a kid on steroids for my asthma- I tell you I could offer J is favorite food item and it would be rejected and utterly spurned. He fought S this morning over what color shirt he was wearing- as in he insisted it was green and it was really blue. And even when S tried to agree we could call it green, because who was it going to hurt, the tears still kept coming. S and I see our son, sick and hurting and made emotionally the worse by the side effects of the medicine. We want so badly to make it better for him. We cut him slack where we can because we know his limitations. But there are still some areas where we hold fast. Last night, we had to send J away from the table because of his outright disrespect. He was very emotional when he returned to the table to find we had started dinner without him, but he also seemed a little relieved and ate better than he usually does. He really does need the boundaries and the limits. The expectations of our behavior help us feel safe and secure.
So, within our faith, I'm really learning to love those precepts. They aren't easy. They aren't always fun. I know I can be like my sick 3 year old on steroids with God. I lash out, get uppity, decide I want to do things my own way and then I get upset when I have to live with my mess. But it is also so relieving to know where I stand.
Missing mass yesterday really reminded me of how good it is to be obligated to go to mass on Sundays.
Before you get the wrong idea, I'm not of the opinion that we should have all of our Feast Days celebrated on the day they happen- I understand how busy our priests are. They are only human and cannot possibly fulfill the duties of their vocation if we don't let them have a little down time here and there. But I still felt a little like this year it meant we were going to get the "whole" Christmas season. And since I had been of the good fortune to have a really good Advent, I wasn't ready to vomit at the sight of jingle bells and Nativity scenes.
But, it was not meant to be. S did not dodge the bullet and came down with the viral gunk. I'm not doing much better and neither was J. Soooo, in all technicality, C was healthy enough to go, but... she's 1. It kind of made the entire weekend feel like it lasted forever- and not in a good way. It was more like "Can we please go back to school/work now? This vacation has lasted forever and I'm bored out of my skull. Make the cabin fever stop!" And only after 2 days!
S and I have talked about our Sunday obligation in the past and how it really is such a gift to be obligated to attend mass on a weekly basis. And not just any day, but specifically Sunday, the beginning of the week. It sets an entire rhythm to the week, more so than just the alarm going off on Monday morning reminding you that you have to get back to work. The Sunday obligation gives us a chance to give the "first fruits" of our week to God. It also let's us wind down from the last week. It definitively closes the chapter of one week and let's us put it behind us. It's over- the good and the bad. Now we move into the next week, refocused even if we don't feel renewed. As humans, we are always in need of fresh starts. We don't want to have to carry the consequences of our mistakes or have lasting impacts from our wrong choices. At the same time we don't ever want the benefits of our good choices to stop being reaped!
I think I see the gift of obligations and boundaries even more, especially as I raise my kids. J's had a tough week, especially being on steroids for his asthma. "'Roid rage" comes to mind. He's a really sweet and tender kid. He's also 3 and has his own tendencies for defiance. And I had this struggle as a kid on steroids for my asthma- I tell you I could offer J is favorite food item and it would be rejected and utterly spurned. He fought S this morning over what color shirt he was wearing- as in he insisted it was green and it was really blue. And even when S tried to agree we could call it green, because who was it going to hurt, the tears still kept coming. S and I see our son, sick and hurting and made emotionally the worse by the side effects of the medicine. We want so badly to make it better for him. We cut him slack where we can because we know his limitations. But there are still some areas where we hold fast. Last night, we had to send J away from the table because of his outright disrespect. He was very emotional when he returned to the table to find we had started dinner without him, but he also seemed a little relieved and ate better than he usually does. He really does need the boundaries and the limits. The expectations of our behavior help us feel safe and secure.
So, within our faith, I'm really learning to love those precepts. They aren't easy. They aren't always fun. I know I can be like my sick 3 year old on steroids with God. I lash out, get uppity, decide I want to do things my own way and then I get upset when I have to live with my mess. But it is also so relieving to know where I stand.
Missing mass yesterday really reminded me of how good it is to be obligated to go to mass on Sundays.