I Got to Go to Mass After All

I was able to go to Mass after all. I was really worried about mortal sin and would have rather gone to Mass than to be tied to the building on Sunday morning-even if I'm excused.

I could stay home from church with a clear conscience if I had the flu. In fact I was wishing I had the flu, as miserable as that would be, since I could stay home without committing a sin. Be careful what you pray for-you might get it! Friday night I did feel nauseated and was kept up both by frequent trips to the bathroom and a fire alarm which kept going off. The fire alarm didn't quit going off until after midnight.

A very traditional Catholic from whom I've been buying from on eBay insisted I go ahead and go to Mass. But the lady at the front desk where I live "reminded" me that leaving during restriction without permission would result in eviction. She was worried about my having to live on the streets of South Bend.

But the priests at St. Patrick's said I'm excused "because of circumstances". That helped me clear my conscience about missing Mass because of the restriction. In fact the priest at the Latin Mass thought that would be the right thing out of obedience to the place I live at-to stay home instead of attending church while on restriction.

Since I had some kind of "bug" as well as the restriction I kept trying to call my ride to tell her I was sick and "grounded" and couldn't go to Mass for those two reasons. But every time I tried to call her her line was busy. I'e been trying to call her from 8:00 am to 11:30 pm and decided it was getting to be too late at night to call anyone. I thought maybe there was a chance that the Lord was keeping me from calling her since He wanted me in church and was going to pave a way. I started feeling better and felt like my room might be able to "pass" if I just pick things up or at least push them out of my way so they don't have to worry about me tripping over them.

I went and got the staff member who was authorized to check my room as she walked in at 7:00. She passed me but said I needed to sweep the floor before leaving. I swept the floor and got out just in time to meet my ride and tell her about her phone being busy. She said it was broken and didn't know it was until she tried to make a call and couldn't get a dial tone.

God works in mysterious ways!

And He and His Blessed Mother must have really wanted me in church Sunday-and could have done this as an answer to our prayers that I'd make it to Mass.

And I got off restriction just in time to go to the Tradtional Mass-even though there were two other Masses I could have gone to at St. Patrick's. The 10:30 and 5:30 Masses just don't hold a candle to the Latin Mass I go to at 7:45 am.

This was the happiest I've been while at Mass. When I saw Father standing on the steps in front of the church after Mass I told him I was really happy to make it to Mass that morning and told him what happened-including being unable to call my ride to tell her not to come.

God works in mysterious ways!