I can hear the homily

I know my family has to be the most distracting family there is in church.  And when people introduce themselves to us, and tell me "oh I know you guys, you sit in the front at 10am mass with all the kids," I am convinced we are as distracting as I think we are.

We sit in the same place every week, at the same mass, and well to be honest my kids are the same every week as well.  Drew in general sits, reads, does a puzzle, colors and plays with his little guys.  Sean is, well Sean, he eats, eats, wants to run around, walks laps around the church and dip his whole hand in every font of holy water and then "sits" back down for about 5 minutes and we start our laps again.  Eva is 3 months, this is not the challenging portion of child care in church by any stretch, and if she fusses mom just feeds her.

So needless to say I never really listen to much of anything in mass.  I sort of absorb, via osmosis, is my theory and pick up tid bits every now and again.

So when my lovely wife had to work at mass, and the grandparents were willing to watch our kids we took our date night and enjoyed mass.  I got to hold my wife's hand, and put my arm around her.  I really did listen to the homily and enjoyed it, and I received communion with that momentary meditation before receiving.  It was special "treat" and a simple time with my wife tonight.

I missed my boys at church today, and would never want this to be the norm, but the clarity I felt during mass today, will really carry into the next few weeks and months of the chaos.  The chaos has forced me to really focus to gleen what I can from mass, and when I am alone, this new found focus can be profound.