Taking things for granted . . .

It's early Sunday evening and I've just been catching up on what's going on in the blogosphere which is one of my favourite ways of relaxing at the end of the weekend.

I try not to take anything for granted and I do appreciate how fortunate we are to have a comfortable home, loving children, employment etc. etc. but it has never really occurred to me quite how fortunate we are with our parish. There is a theme underlying some blogs of discontentment, of a yearning for certain things that are apparently not readily available to all.

I had not realised that it is fairly unusual to have regular Rosary and Benediction, for example, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament several days a week and frequent Confession. Is it really very unusual, I wonder, or are those blogs that I've been looking at describing some sort of minority ghetto where such devotions are not practised?

I thought everyone was encouraged to go to Confession regularly and have reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. Maybe I've just been taking things for granted after all. At Mass tomorrow, during the silence after Holy Communion (which I gather is not kept universally) I will try and remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive as members of our parish where everything possible is done to encourage us in our spiritual development. Thanks of course to our parish priest.

Saints, Feast Days etc. . . .

One of the many things that I like about the Catholic Church (a very simplistic way of looking at things, I know) is the wealth of Saints to inspire us.

Today, for example we have the memorial of St Jean-Marie Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests.

I often hear people saying things like, 'oh, so-and-so is one my favourite saints' or 'I have a special devotion to St so-and-so'. I just wouldn't be able to choose a few out of the many. It seems to me that quite often when we are celebrating a particular Saint's feast day, that particular saint has something special to say to me.

How fortunate for me that today's feast falls on a Wednesday. This is my day off and I usually manage to get to morning Mass in a church where there is Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass and a brief period of Adoration finishing with Benediction. Probably only about 15 minutes in total but what a special 15 minutes that is. A privileged time to spend with Our Lord in prayer. Coincidentally, it's also just about the time it takes me to pray five decades of the Rosary so today I was able to pray for all parish priests, remembering especially those known to me.

Funny how these things seem to work out, isn't it?