Holy Thursday

Tonight we braved the hour and 40 min. Holy Thursday service at our parish. Yes, it's long, but boy, oh boy it's beautiful. It’s actually Nelson's favorite service of the year and I can understand why.

Of course, there was no nursery tonight so we took all four into the church to try our luck. God blessed us with a relatively peaceful experience. I'm sure I missed a lot of it saying, "Shh," "Sit still," "Look forward, "Please pay attention." In fact, the thought occurred to me that taking kids to mass, any mass let alone this one, is really a lot of hard work.

However, there was a moment, when our pastor was washing the feet of parishioners, that I was suddenly transfixed. I was taken back to the Last Supper. I was there, with Jesus as He humbled himself to teach the disciples what it means to be a servant. I was there at the very first Eucharistic celebration. I was there.

I was moved. In the midst of cheerios, children's books and a bit of noise, Jesus took me on his journey. And that's what it's all about. It reminded me how much He loves me, how great His sacrifice was, and how I will eternally benefit from His actions. It was a short moment, probably not longer than a minute, but it was there.

I tried to get back to that moment at the end of the mass when the priest was exposing the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration. I closed my eyes for a second and wished I could stay there for hours. I was promptly brought back to reality when Max finally spoke up in the silence of the church and announced, "I'm ready to go now! Let's go!"

And so, we did.