Daily Mass, Daily Mess

Light on the blogging because these last days have been filled with non-routine, mildly upsetting, semi-complicated things in my family and work. All issues will probably be resolved for the good, but they're taking up my spare time, ingenuity, patience and diligence.

I've been able to start each day with Mass; beautiful Masses, peaceful, with the sun streaming in low and muted, still spring-cool. The gold of the chalices glow quietly against the green vestments of Ordinary Time. The daily-Mass sermons are short but often theologically intricate and challenging. Everybody is so reverent; silence is complete after communion, except for the birds heard through the windows. Sigh. You'd like it.

When my life goes MY way, when I can predict even my trials and temptations, I can feel the afterglow of Mass being absorbed slowly by the new material of the day as it predictably unfolds. But now, BANG!, I'm immediately being clutched at and behind schedule and distracted.

This is a new step in spiritual growth: to maintain the balance of Mass and life so that one feeds the other instead of life robbing spirit of all the energy and attention.