Blessings

Our family of 10, (2 parents, 7 children and 1 grandchild) had outgrown our family car, a beige six-passenger Chevrolet Impala. My parents advertised our car for sale so they could buy a used suburban they’d found at a car dealership.

Listening to a homily last weekend, my thoughts swirled – initially in full agreement with what Father was saying. Then “yes, but” popped into my head.

Has your heart been heavy this past week as mine has with the images of grief and destruction, the news of devastation and death?

A rising high school junior, a rising college junior and a rising postgraduate student all drive off in a jeep with a U-Haul hitched to the back.

Over the past couple of years, I find that I’ve begun outright smiling and sometimes laughing quietly in Mass when I hear the sound of a baby crying out or a toddler issuing vocal demands during the celebration.