Gloria a Dios!

When I awoke this morning, I knew I wasn't up to hauling the boys downtown by myself to suffer them through a solemn, quiet Latin Mass.

I searched masstimes.org for something, anything other than the two nightmare suburban parishes we had already tried. And I found the perfect thing for today: the Spanish Mass at St. Leo the Great, only 10 miles from our house.

We're getting used to Mass in Latin anyway (and not always understanding everything yet), so why not go for a related Romance language? And what could be more "Texan" than attending Mass with the folks who make up more than half the population in our county?

Thus, I learned quite a few things today:

* My and the boys' names really translate easily, as they are named after two Basque saints. It was quite handy when attempting to speak to a priest who welcomed us.

* I'd be hard-pressed to find a more kid-friendly Mass that wasn't a circus. The place was literally crawling with children of all ages, and there was a general "hum" of noise throughout the Mass. Nobody looks at you in offense if your kid makes a peep -- or two! And yet, the people appeared quite devout in their postures, mannerisms and attitudes (especially the triple signs-of-the-cross complete with fingertip kiss). You can have both in the same Mass!

* In this instance, it was good that the priest was not celebrating the Mass "ad orientem" (often, sadly referred to "his back to the people" -- see the ZENIT article from yesterday's post) or it would have really looked like we were worshiping the 20-foot tall image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the back nave wall! ;-) (FYI -- A very nice crucifix was suspended over the altar.)

* Anglos and Hispanic-Latinos have entirely different ideas about personal space. We started out in a side pew near the front with a bit of space on either side for both boys and our bag. Then, the parishioners kept going around us into our pew, and sitting where I hadn't seen empty spots before. And then, the priest (before the first reading) asked everyone to scooch down the pews and consolidate as much as possible. A few more people squeezed in. We had an old abuela who held hands with X-Man on one side, and a plump madre whom Boo-Boo snuggled up to on the other side. I glanced behind us, and there were people standing along every aisle, the walls and even in the hallways in the church building. They know how to pack 'em in! It was a little tight, but strangely it made me feel more loved than claustrophobic.


* I really, really need to learn the Spanish words for: "sorry," "excuse me" and "His name is ..."