We're starting to have a hard time keeping track of our son. As Dan alluded to in his last post, we are constantly chasing Joseph so he doesn't fall down the step in the kitchen. Or pull the cat's tail. Or jump on the cat. Or push the t.v. over. Or a plant. Or... you name it, he's into it. When we open a cupboard door or the fridge you can instantly hear the acceleration of little "pit, pat, pit, pat" along the floor because he knows he only has a very limited time to intercept before the door closes again. All experienced parents will, I'm sure, warn me that this is just the beginning. We have yet to look forward to Joseph opening cupboard doors, unrolling the toilet paper, sticking his hands in the toilet, and dumping the garbage. 

A few weeks ago, however, we discovered the best babysitter ever. Joseph simply sits on the floor and stares at this flashy babysitter, sometimes bobbing up and down, or singing little songs. You're probably thinking we stick him in front of the t.v. Actually, it's better than a t.v., which he still only wants to crawl within 5in of to watch or shove sideways. Our babysitter is Joe Wise!! 

Haven't heard of him?! Yeah, neither had I, but he's been a favourite around the Millette household since, oh, let's just say his CD was made from a record (remember those?). Back in the day, Joe Wise composed liturgical music -- if my memory serves me correctly, you might find something in the Glory and Praise hymnal. But he also did some stuff for kids and apparently you can still get a hold of it. If you haven't heard him, you really must go listen to a song or two. We highly recommend "Spaghetti" and "This Little Piggy".

Whenever this CD is playing -- and you can bet that it gets played a lot, considering how much trouble our little rascal gets into otherwise -- Joseph sits and stares at the CD player. Maybe it's the flashy lights, but he sure loves it. And he's inherited his dad's, ahem, good dancing skills (ever seen Dan pull out an Elvis or Michael Jackson move). Maybe next time I'll be able to include the duo dancing it up. Now... where's that little rascal? Oh yeah, sleeping.

"What do you do all day?"

This summer I decided not to work fulltime at the Co-op. The reasoning was simple. If I am to be a teacher then I must train myself in every way. Since teachers get the whole summer off, naturally I found it important to do likewise. So I work on my golf game. Drink coffee. Watch Sportcentre with Onrait and O'toole.

Well, I should be doing those things. In reality, my golf game is a mess at the moment (thanks to weight lifting... btw I finally got a weight bench!). What I actually have been doing so far this summer is working fulltime on my M.A. degree (concentration in dogmatic theology) through Holy Apostles College and Seminary (HACS).

Now fulltime study consists of three courses. I'm taking History of the Liturgy, the Synoptic Gospels, and Moral Theology. HACS has an excellent theology program. It is very Thomistic.

A typical day:

I get up at 6am every morning. Say my prayers, eat breakfast, and start working on my studies. Each and every day of studying consists of pouring through roughly 150-200 pages of readings, and writing 1000-2000 words on what I have read, either via responses, essays, or powerpoints. I post my work in a very neat online program called populi, and am able to interact with all of my classmates and profs there. Graduate studies are mainly guided personal study, so to not be in a classroom is not that big of a deal.

I take a break every morning and either do a workout or go for a run. There is also Mass at noon on Tuesdays through Friday. And I try to spend a little time outside everyday cutting grass and such.
I also still work at the Co-op. I go in 2x a week: for one afternoon of my choice during the week, and then all day on Saturdays.

This is the general plan. However, Joseph usually has a different idea of what I'm going to do. He shows up between 7:30-8:30am all smiley, so I'm forced to go say hi. Then I have to check on him a few minutes later to make sure Becca is feeding him breakfast. I also routinely check on him to make sure he's satisfied with the quality of toys, the room temperature, the colour of the couches... you name it, I'm there for him to make sure his day is to his liking. Then, most days Becca will selfishly go have a shower, and so I stay with Joseph to make sure he's emotionally secure during that time. I also give Joseph music lessons at various times throughout the day. I teach him voice, piano, organ, and then we play some guitar, drums, the recorder, and lately I've also included the saxaphone in his daily lessons. We also groove together to his favourite record, the Spaghetti album by Joe Wise.

All of this doesn't even include things like: THUD!              ... wait for it... wait for it...

"WAHHHH!!!"

or

THUD!

"Joseph, don't push the highchair down the stairs!"

All of which require my immediate and undivided attention. Yes, this summer I am so busy that, thankfully, I've been able to avoid all distractions and get down to work. Now excuse me while I go check in on Joseph...



~Fun in the sun~

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet? Will we ever get there? Where is "there"?

No. No. And it doesn't exist.

I'm talking about our endless pursuit for the next thing. And I think we're almost all guilty of it.
"When we get married all our troubles will be over..." (Yeah right!).
"When I finish my degree then I'll be set..."
"If I can just get that teaching job then everything will be good..."

Oh? I can see it now:

"When we buy that house our troubles will be over..."
"When we fix the roof then we'll be set..."
"When we replace all the windows that Joseph put rocks through then things will be good..."
"When we finish paying the mortgage..."
                                                                     
                                                                     ...No, even that's not expected

Why do we always look ahead, as if once we've attained this sewing machine here, or that 15 passenger van (for all the kids) there, things will be set? Reality check. We're never satisfied by things, gadgets, ipads, or even crazy novelties such as our own bed. No, we'll just want a bigger bed, a newer ipad (that has an app which changes diapers), another baby (because the last one just cut its first tooth and is already too big)...

"Stop it right now!"

Life is too short to always be waiting around for the next thing, with all of its empty promises. Sure, save up money for the new van, that's fine. I suppose it's better than strapping the kids to the roof. If you're stuck with 5 kids crawling into your bed every night, yes, save up and buy the bigger bed. But there should be: a) a reasonable need for it, and b) you shouldn't expect it to satisfy you.

Then how are we supposed to go through life?

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:19-21).

That's right, we must only be working towards that true treasure; that which will last in eternity.

The story goes that St. Anthony of Padua preached this verse (and lived it). To prove it, after a selfish rich man once died, St. Anthony had them open up the man. Inside of the dead man was, where a heart should have been, gold and other treasures. 

Our earthly treasures die along with us, but our true treasure is in heaven. Life is too short to waste on the vain pursuit of things. It is too short to spend endlessly hoping that "gee, when I get my Masters I'll probably become the special aid to the Pope, and then I'll be happy." 

No, the best things in life involve praying in a quiet church early in the morning, thanking God for a smile from a cuter-than-cute 10 month old boy, giving that old person a ride to Mass (without expecting a thank you), falling asleep after a long hard day of work... with that deep feeling of peace which makes up for all the struggles... and, in everything, giving it all back to God with deep gratitude. 

Are we there yet? Only when we die. Are we saving up for it?

St. Anthony, ora pro nobis.

Summer?! Finally!

We've been too busy enjoying the beautiful weather this week to blog much. After months and months (okay, just days and days) of rainy weather, the sun is finally shining and we're loving it. Summer is finally here.

Earlier this week, Joseph and I were out in the garden with Grandma, picking worm larvae off the Saskatoons. Ugh! So many of the beautiful bushes had gross little white things attached to the bottom of their leaves. Grandma spent a lot longer out there than Joseph was interested in and still we didn't get them all. But those we did pick off were promptly burned up -- except the ones in a jar on the kitchen counter that we get to stare at until they hatch... just to see what they really are!

Summer means watermelon season! And just last night we finally scored on the first good watermelon of the year. We stripped Joseph down to his diaper and let him go at it. Grandma's poor floor was a little worse for wear by the end, but that's ok, right?

Once he has all he can fit in his mouth, Joseph's preferred method of watermelon eating is to squish it all between his fingers, letting the juice run down his chin, chest, and legs before possibly taking another big bite. 

And even if he's had a bath for two nights in a row, it doesn't hurt to have one more, does it?

Actually, Joseph pulled out all his tricks to get a morning bath today as well. Joseph and I were laying in bed cuddling for a minute or two after waking up. Suddenly, I felt this warm liquid running down my arm and quickly sat up to find a damp pee spot on the sheets. I guess his diaper was so full with the overnight liquids (maybe from the watermelon?) that it had no more room and just squirted out the top. I came running up from our basement bedroom, arms outstretched carrying the little rascal so as not to get any more wet, and handed him over to Dan who promptly plunked him in the tub, again.

This picture is not actually from this morning's bath, but it's funny...

 Later this morning, as we were out saying goodbye to Grandpa, Grandma, and Lynda who are off for a little trip we had a funny little excursion with the dog, Emma. She was proudly running around at our feet, simply begging for attention. It went something like this: 

"What's that in Emma's mouth?" 

"Oh, just that little stuffed toy bear she's been playing with" 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, look at it" 

"It's just that dumb toy" (someone else piped up)

"Wait, it's not round" 

"What is that thing?" 

"No, Emma, don't come near me" (me running inside)

"What is it? It's an animal"  

"Oh gross, it's a baby bunny. See, there are its ears"

"I didn't think it was round"

"And I was just about to pull it out of her mouth" (Dan)

"Eww, gross! Don't let her lick Joseph's hands today" (me)  

Yep, we love Emma... sometimes. I don't think I'm a farm girl, yet. I still can't get used to the idea of killing cats and other gross stuff.

After the events of the morning, we decided to go for a family run. And it turns out it actually works for us now. Whereas in the past I was hopelessly slower than Dan and tired much more quickly, now with the added work for him of pushing our amazing jogging stroller, we run at a similar pace. I must, however, mention that Dan did leave the stroller with me when I got too tired, while he ran on ahead a ways and came back to meet us a few minutes later. In my defense, I only just recently started running again after a very long pregnancy and baby break. Joseph got quite the kick out of seeing me run beside his stroller and we were all tired out by the end. Success!

Have a lovely weekend, dear friends, wherever you are, and enjoy some of this glorious sunshine!

"Mum"

We're still having a hard time getting enough sleep. We start out in our respective beds each night, but somehow Joseph and I inevitably end up in our bed and Dan's gone upstairs by the wee hours of the morning (ok, at the latest sometime shortly after midnight) to attempt a better night's rest.

Last night was no different. At some point, Joseph fell asleep with his bottom half on our bed, while his head and shoulders were a few inches lower on his crib that's attached to our bed. It didn't last long and somewhere around 3:30am Joseph woke again (for the hundredth time??), sat up, and crawled over to where I was unsuccessfully attempting to sleep, or at least fake sleep, through his restlessness. He laid his little head down on my pillow right against mine. He started patting my hair, happily pulling it a bit. Then I heard his sleepy little voice say, "Mu-um, Mum."

You would learn my name in the middle of the night, wouldn't you, Joseph?! Of course, my heart melted and I couldn't help smiling. We were more or less awake for the next 2 1/2 hrs, with Joseph falling asleep briefly (even sitting up with only his head resting on the blankets) only to wake again. But each time he woke he came crawling back over to me, sweetly saying, "Mum, Mum, Mum."

Now, how could I be upset at losing a night's sleep, again, with such cuteness?

The Places We've Gone

1.
Nipawin Regional Park. Nipawin has this really cool little camp ground and park that's about 10 min from here, complete with petting zoo, jungle gym, zip-line, swinging bridge, and the Saskatchewan River. It was one of the first places I went on my first trip out to Saskatchewan and now one of the first places we've taken Joseph. They've put in a new water park/play area for the kiddies so we are looking forward to hot weather soon to play (no more of these rainy Sundays, please!). This is also where Dan was recently working out during our family outing.

2.

Sledding. Well, not exactly. But it was hot out and we haven't bought Joseph a little pool for the summer yet, so we had to "make do" with the red sled Grandma bought for the kids at Christmas. Joseph loved it! Even after he got too cold and was back in his clothes, he crawled back over to play with the water.

3.

Catherine's Birthday Party. Our dear little god-daughter, Catherine, turns one today! But Joseph and I headed to Saskatoon on Saturday for her party. Joseph and Catherine succeeded in eluding sleep all afternoon, despite the concerted efforts of their respective mothers. As soon as they heard the other one in another room it was over and done with for resting. As you can imagine, they were completely wired by the time evening and the party came along. We enjoyed watching them chase each other crawling under the table and up to the glass door where they stood to bang on the glass. Happy birthday, love bug!

4.

Swimming. On our way back from Saskatoon on the weekend we met up with Dan in Melfort and headed over to "the palace" for some swimming. Unlike the pool where I used to work, here kids of any size can go down the water slide with their parents. What a blast! (sorry, we didn't take our camera in with us) Joseph almost went for a dunk at the bottom one time when his mother had her feet slip out from under her -- thank God for daddies who can catch sinking babies. Then he got splashed all over his face the next time his mother attempted a run at the slide with him. Daddy didn't trust her after that and he took over!

5.

Pro-life Walk. Our reason for heading to Melfort in the first place was for the pro-life walk. It's the third year now that I've been able to participate in it and Joseph's second (last year in utero). Despite the dark looming clouds and calls for thunderstorms nearly 100 people came out to brave the weather. There were lots of families with little kids -- in fact, we lent our stroller to a mom and her young daughter who got pretty tired on our treck through town. And the rain held off until we were almost back to our starting point! Joseph came out a winner in the door prizes and we brought home a cute little Canada camping chair (but not quite as amazing as this one!).

Theology of the Body

I apologize to all our loyal readers of the blog (I could just apologize to all two of you by name, but it sounds better like this). I apologize that you did not receive a blog from us last night. Blame Becca. She said she was going to blog, so I said ok and obediently went and watched the hockey game, like a good husband would. Alas, she was on the computer for a while, but produced no bloggery. What's so hard about taking a few minutes to look after Joseph, do my laundry, wash dishes and write a blog? Honestly.

"Wait!" you ask. "Why weren't you out in the garage bench pressing last night?"
Sigh. It goes like this...

Since we arrived here at the beginning of May I have been looking constantly for a weight bench. I have contacted half the province trying to find a bench. I've been sold four benches for my troubles. Well, sold, and then the person backs out or doesn't follow up. This past weekend I managed to get a weight bench from a guy in Saskatoon. He promised me it was in good shape, and that he'd drop it off at Brendan and Elaine's place. From there Becca and Mom would bring it back (since they were attending Catherine's birthday party). He never showed up. Apparently the weight bench was missing parts.

I'd say there are a few parts missing in his brain.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Without a weight bench, how am I supposed to get like this:

How am I supposed to get to heaven without a weight bench? Theology of the Body, baby.

It's gotten so bad that now when we try to do family outings, like go to the park...

Well, see for yourself:

Yeah, that's me in the background. It was biceps/triceps day.

So as I start another day without a weight bench, I pray to the Lord for the (literal) strength to get through this day. Theology of the Body, baby.

"You are a Priest forever..."

I was just thinking of how it's been nearly a year since the Fr. Corapi scandal blew wide open. There was the initial leave of absence during lent of last year, and then things went quiet. Quiet, that is, until last year's Trinity Sunday when Corapi announced, on the twentieth anniversary of his ordination, that he was leaving the priesthood. A little while later he, sort of, began a minstry under the title "the Black Sheepdog."

The Black Sheepdog has folded. Last labour day was the last known activity. Then at the beginning of January (2012) the websites, twitter pages etc. all came down. No one knows why. If I had to speculate, it would probably be due to lawsuits being filed back and forth regarding petty things (copyright this, infringement of rights that). Yet, to this day there are still a few private blogs that carry on the conversation of last year. There are those who proclaim along the lines of:

"Corapi brought me back to the faith 15 years ago! This is just a conspiracy by those evil bishops who are taking out God's loyal servant. How dare people judge! They are sinning! Why, I once heard a talk by Corapi and he said he loved Mary! How dare people accuse him of bad things. May Our Lady of Medjugorie protect him! We miss you Father, er, Blacksheepdog..."

... and so on. Yes, many people actually talk like this on blogs.

For me, the whole thing came crashing down when he gave an initial explanation for leaving the priesthood. He said that, at the wish of the Church, 90% of his ministry was preaching, and that the performing of the Sacraments was only a small part of what he did. Therefore, in a sense, leaving the priesthood is not that big of a deal, because his main calling has been to preach and teach the faith.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

Let's first understand the primary role and responsibility of the priest. Going back to the Old Testament, the priest's primary task was to offer sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people. The whole temple was set up in the structure of the priest leading the prayer, and offering a sacrifice on the altar. The sins of the people would be burnt up in the offering, and the offering smoke would rise up to God and be pleasing to him. Yet, in Genesis, God promises Abraham (after the near sacrifice of Abraham's only son Isaac) that God Himself would supply the sacrifice to be offered (God's only Son, instead).

The New Testament priest, who finds his priestly ministry in the great high priest, Jesus Christ, still has the primary role of offering sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people. But the sacrifices are not of animals, the sacrifice is the re-presentation of Christ's true sacrifice. The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary. Therefore, the priest's number one responsibility, role, duty, calling, whatever you want to name it, is to say Mass. A priest should not wake up in the morning and say: "what should I do today?" Rather, he should wake up and say: "what should I do today, after I have said Mass?"

And so, when Fr. Corapi stated that his leaving the priesthood was no big deal, alarm bells started to ring. Preaching is great, but it is not the primary duty of a priest. This would be like if I were to start a teaching job (Deo-volente), and become successful (Deo-volente), and say to Becca: "I spend most of my time teaching, I'm successful at it, therefore I'm not going to be married to you anymore so that I can devote all my time to teaching."

That sounds absurd. And so it should.

Alas, we continue to pray for Fr. Corapi, even though we don't know where he is, or what he's doing. It would be nice to know that he's gone back to his SOLT Order. I mean, really, the last image I ever saw of him was with him doing some strange interview, talking about himself while using the analogy of crossing the rubicon. There was this image of him, dressed in a black shirt. Yet where the white Roman Collar used to be at his neck, instead a white UnderArmour logo appeared:

A picture says a thousand words. So we pray for Fr. Corapi.
And for all priests.
Especially when we go to Mass.

Cool Chair

Check out this cool chair?! If you were a little boy don't you think you'd love it?

Joseph and I took a trip to P.A. with Grandma yesterday. On our errand list was picking up Grandpa's cool new lazy-boy chair from Leon's. But Grandpa's chair ain't as cool as the one we found, complete with cupholder, kick-back foot rest, and sweet Montreal Canadiens fabric -- all to the tune of $180! And, would you believe it, Grandma even wanted to buy two of them for her grandsons, saying, "But don't you think they'd be so cute, sitting in them?" Yep, pretty cute!

Top Ten

Over the years we Millettes have been known to spend a great deal of time talking about and laughing over movie scenes... from about the same 15 movies. We watch the same movies over and over again. However, about a month ago Rheanne and Stephen came home from OLSWA and, along with Lynda, kept talking about all these movies I've never heard of, much less seen. I guess I'm a little left out now. And it's not like Becca and I can just sit down and watch a movie anymore (see previous blog on Joseph's sleeping habits). Thus, my knowledge of movies is very limited. NEVERTHELESS, I offer to you my top 10 favourite movies of all time!




10. The Ten Commandments.

I put this in the top ten simply because I've spent so many hours of my life watching it. How could you not? It's on every Easter (for obvious reasons... Passover... Triduum... it's all connected...). Charleton Heston is, for lack of a better word, the bomb. Clearly this movie is the all-time epic of epics.




9. Toy Story

This movie had a lot of hype when it first came out, and for good reason. It deals with (throughout the trilogy) the theme of growing up and leaving childhood, yet through the crazy ordeals of Woody, Mr. Potato-head, and, of course, Buzz Lightyear. It's a great animated comedy, yet not a mindless one.




8. Blues Brothers



NOTE: I'm talking about the edited T.V. version.

"We got a full tank of gas, a half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sun glasses." "Let's hit it." Thus begins the best chase scene you will ever see. You will never laugh your head off more while watching car after car being destroyed by the wiles of the Blues Brothers.




7. Up

The five minute married-life scene is perhaps one of the best montages I've ever seen. I've shown it to my students when teaching on marriage. Of course, there is not a dry eye to be had amongst the girls in the class. And the guys are always, ahem, um, looking down or something when I turn the lights on. It's just a great piece of art. And the movie as a whole has a host of underlying themes at work. You could show this movie to just about any class and then lead some great discussion.




6. John Paul II Movie

A must see. Period. All you can do is thank the Lord for giving us such a wonderful and holy Pope.




5. Reluctant Saint

When I first saw this movie one night, the first thing I did the next morning was put it on again and watch it. I then proceeded to watch it 8 days in a row (not to match my 28 day streak of watching Aladin). The Reluctant Saint is an inspiring, heartwarming, and funny movie about the life of St. Joseph of Cupertino. What always gets me the most from this movie is just the sense of humility that this great, yet simple, man had.

4. Lord of the Rings

I'll just put the whole trilogy here, though I think the Fellowship has the best flow and is the most interesting. I do particularly like, however, the battle of Helms Deep. Ok, I'll admit it, I used to be obsessed with these movies. You tell me which homeschooler wasn't though!




3. Padre Pio

Perhaps the most inspiring movie on the list. This is one of many new Italian religious movies that are excellent. It is the life of St. Pio. The most striking scenes are when he, literally, fights with the devil (who appears as a priest).

2. Rookie of the Year

The funniest movie I've ever seen. It's about a 12 year old, Henry Rowengartner, who pitches for the Cubs. "Hot ice! You heat up the ice cubes! It's the best of both worlds!" or "Pitcher's got a big butt!" I just love Rookie of the Year.




1. The Bells of St. Mary's

You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll do both at the same time. If only the world's problems could just be solved by sliding over to that piano that always seems to be nearby, and crooning a little ditty about being yourself. I've heard criticism about this movie in that Fr. O'Malley (Bing Crosby) is never seen performing the Sacraments (which is a priest's primary purpose). That's a fair point to make. But overall, this movie is just the best, ever.

Sleep Deprivation

I'm right, you're wrong. End of story!

Dan and I haven't slept through the night in the same bed in a couple months. Except perhaps once or twice. Seriously. And we haven't slept through the night period in a very long time.

We used to have the "perfect" baby: Joseph would go to bed at 8-9pm, wake up at 2-3am, then sleep again until 7am. Perfect. Yeah, right. Then he decided he liked our bed better than his (we also figured he'd grown out of his wonderful little rocking cradle when he swung it into the wall one night!). And he liked our bed all to himself, sleeping sideways or diagonally, both arms and legs outstretched.

Naturally, either Dan or I gave up on fitting on our queen size bed and moved to the couch. We had a sleeping bag permanently in our living room the last few weeks we lived in Ancaster and it got used every night. First we put off his sleeplessness as teething, then when we arrived in Nipawin it was an ear infection, then a cold. But, really, these excuses are starting to go too far!

On top of all this, the little stinker has figured out that we get pretty annoyed pretty quickly if he starts screaming and crying in the middle of the night. If he gets his own way quicker, he's likely to learn very fast from the success. Now he's got us on his own "schedule" of waking every two hours. Yes, every two hours! And to top that off, playtime at 4 or 5am when he's up for it is just his piece of cake. And did I mention that when he is sleeping he wiggles, fidgets, and taps one foot so that it's nearly impossible for us to get back to sleep?

You see, it's all this big masterful ploy to keep us as sleep deprived as he can get us so we try anything and everything to satisfy his whims. We've figured him out and and he's not going to get his way any longer!

Does anyone know where we can find a queen size baby crib??? 

Our Lady's Saturday

That's right. Our Lady's Saturday returns today after many many weeks of being overshadowed by the lented and Easter seasons. However, of course there is no Mass around here on a Saturday morning. The only priest I knew who had Saturday morning Mass for Our Lady was Fr. Mariusz (Fr. Apollo may have had Sat. Masses for a time as well). Is it just me or is there a general lack of interest in this beautiful devotion?

Part of the problem is that, in the summer anyway, big parishes have weddings almost every Saturday. Clearly the priest will be uninterested in having the morning Mass and then having to preside over one or two long and hot wedding Masses. And then to say Mass on Saturday evening too!...

I think the Saturday evening Mass is the main problem. In most parishes I've visited this Mass has become the biggest Mass of the week. It's original intent was that those who could not make a Sunday Mass (ex. working in healthcare) could then go to the Saturday evening vigil Mass.

Sure Polyanna.

Let's call it like it is here. Most people go to the Saturday evening Mass so they can get their obligation in, and then have a good time Saturday night, while sleeping in Sunday morning.

That's all fine and good. I'm not going to condemn someone for that. BUT, when Our Lady's Saturday morning Mass is not said so that people can get their Sat. night Mass in, and then go have a good time... I don't like that. And I don't think Our Lady does either. These beautiful devotions are important to the spiritual growth of Catholics. It's a darn shame that others (me) have to suffer so that someone's Sunday obligation can be fulfilled on Saturday at 5pm so they can make it out to Montana's for 6pm.

There, I just had to get that off my chest.