Yesterday we all went to Mass together, as we've been doing for around four weeks in a row. Veronica was hateful, horrible BAD! during Mass so finally Mike took her out to the car. She fell asleep so hard when we got home, I assume she didn't feel good or was super tired or something and that's why she was so bad. Anyways, I took a picture of her and put it on Facebook and said basically that. A friend of mine posted a comment that said "I will never understand why you CATHOLICS TORTURE YOURSELVES AND YOUR CHILDREN by expecting them to sit still for an HOUR! That's what you GET!". I was all, what in the who now? First of all, this girl is a Christian Scientist, which is a much maligned church and second of all, an hour's not really SUPER long. I take the girls to a frickety fracken story hour at the library and they sit there for most of that. Also, we don't expect her to sit exactly still or we whack her hands with a ruler or anything. She brings a book, we will gladly take her to the foyer, she just can't run up the damned aisle or SLAP at her father's FACE! GOD! What is wrong with people?
But it made me think, typically Catholics don't have Cry Rooms or whatever. We were always expected to just behave in church. If we didn't, and sometimes we didn't, we got spanked after church. I don't care so much, it wasn't TRAUMATIZING or anything but Mike and I don't want to do it so we have to discipline in other ways. So I was thinking why do we torture ourselves? Why do we take them all? I work on Saturdays so we have to go on Sunday and we would rather be together than alone at home with them all. It's good for Anthony to practice sitting and being quiet (and not smacking the head of the guy in front of him, which he did this week). I think God is right there in that church and I like to bring my family there. So that way when I pray for them, I can be all, "These people! Right here! THESE are the ones that I am praying for!".
I have to run, Felicity is crying, but I wanted to get that thought down before it flitted out of my ears.
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I think it's good too for forming a feeling that going to church is the natural thing to do, so that NOT going feels uncomfortable. I picture it like how I feel now if I try not to wear a seatbelt (like if I'm just moving the car down the driveway a bit): it feels unnatural and alarming to be without it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I also read somewhere, one time a long time ago, that your children are more likely to go to church if you yourself go to church. Like, if you just drop them off at Mass, you can't expect that they will continue to go. The idea of it being natural is appealing, since I'm sure that they will go through what I went through as a teen, which was to say "I'm NOT going to church anymore, I don't believe in it anyway". My mom just used to say that while we lived in the house we had to go to Mass, that's just what we did, and it ... well I don't want to say WORKED but it did, in that we all still go to Mass.
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