The first day of my half-term holiday started well... I was able to switch off my alarm clock (I'd forgotten to re-set the time) and roll over for an extra hour's snooze. The cat didn't think much of this: Sylvester has gotten used to being fed just before I leave the house, and he was most put out by being made to wait an extra hour for breakfast! And he has an ingenious way of making his displeasure felt... he sits on my shoulder and taps me on the nose. If this doesn't work, he unsheaths his claws and taps a second time.
Only on one previous occasion did he have to make a third attempt... he put his paw in my mouth and attempted to fish for my tongue. Needless to say, self-preservation now kicks in, and I wake up pretty fast once he starts tapping.
I then went to my Parish church for the usual Saturday morning devotions - we have Mass (usually a votive Mass of Our Lady, celebrated in English, Novus Ordo, but ad orientem at the Lady Altar) and then Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour (this is at the High Altar) with silent adoration (and opportunity for Confession) concluding with Benediction.
Today I was booked in to meet with my spiritual director after Benediction. I would say having a good director is pretty vital if you want to take your spiritual life seriously. However, I do approach each session of SD with a certain amount of ambivalence: I know it is good for my soul, and I know that it's necessary, but at the end of a session I generally feel as if I've had my insides scoured out with a brillo pad, and gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson to boot. My SD is pretty thorough!
After I escaped (sorry, that should have read after the session ended...) I drove over to New Addington for tea and a chat with a friend of mine who's the Parish Priest there. I've been so busy with work that I don't think we've chatted properly since the Faith Summer Session (or thereabouts) so we had plenty to catch up on. Anyway, he persuaded me to come along and speak to the parents of his First Communion children about the problems of sex education in Catholic Schools, some time in January.
I felt I'd had such a good day that I decided to pop in to church on my way home to say Evening Prayer, and I stayed for Mass. The sermon was on our need for penance and self-sacrifice if we wished to attain true peace of mind, the true peace that passes all understanding. More food for thought.
...and then I treated myself to a Kentucky Fried Chicken which I shared with Sylvester. All in all, not a bad way to start the holidays!
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