Sunday, Sunday

Ahhh!

Roller coaster of emotions here.

First, the interview went well. I'm not going to say I have the job, but I think I have a good chance. But I've arrived at the fact that I'll be okay one way or the other.

I didn't have the gas to drive to mass in Starkville today (can someone please recap me on the adult catechism class?), so I walked to Annunciation instead.

There are both good things and bad things.

The good: the music is beautiful, and the cantors are great.
The bad: We didn't sing the Gloria. Who doesn't sing the Gloria?!?!

The good: People are quiet before mass.
The bad: When you enter, instead of dipping your fingers in the Holy Water font, everyone takes a host (with a pair of tongs, no less) and tosses it in a bowl of holy water. *shudders* There is something very wrong to me about moving a host around with tongs and my hands touching those tongs not being a priest. So much so with my happy chemicals all out of whack, I started tearing up as I found a seat in the pews.  My question is this a normal practice or is this atypical?

The good: People go and pray before the tabernacle before mass.
The bad: The tabernacle is behind an alcove and not dead and center.

The good: The altar servers are seemingly well-trained.
The bad: One of them repeatedly dropped the altar linens.  I'm going to chalk it up to nervousness.

And lastly, are extraordinary ministers allowed to pour the precious Blood into the chalices? Because they certainly did today, and it kinda horrified me. I feel like that part of the preparation should be left to the priest.

And now, for the fun part:

This middle-aged woman had been staring me down all mass and made me feel really uncomfortable.  On my way walking back to the apartment, she stopped to ask me if I was new, how serious of a Catholic I was, how old I was, where I was from, and what I did for a living, and could I please pray for her sons because she can't get them to mass but she'd really like for us to meet. I had a nice chat with her, and she said she looked forward to seeing me at mass more often.

I looked them up on facebook; one's two years older, and the other is two years younger. And they are both CUTE.  Who knows - maybe they'll come to mass soon.

Thanks Be To God!