Practicing Patience in Church

I am usually a pretty patient person but when bets are off when I'm trying to (quietly) focus on something. Tonight that patience was put to the test.

After confession, we decided to stay for Mass. Since we had over half an hour before the Mass actually started, I decided to pray the Rosary. I was really focused on it until about the third Joyful Mystery when a woman wanted to sit in the pew we were in. I was in the right end (I like sitting in the edges/ends) when I heard and felt woman trying to get past me to get into the booth. She didn't even say "excuse me" until I felt her knees hitting mine. That broke my concentration and made me really not happy. I kept my eyes shut and continued to pray, though not with the same concentration as before. I was miffed. Often when I pray the Rosary something or someone has to interrupt me. It's rare when it doesn't happen. Anyway, I continuing praying until I was done. Once I finished, I turned to see where the woman had sat. I was not happy when I saw that she sat at the other end of the pew... where she could've easily gotten to her seat without disturbing me. "Well, that wasn't nice!" I thought to myself. I let it go. I wasn't in the mood, especially after confession.

The Mass starts... and with it all the liturgical abuses that go with the Novus Ordo. The parish where we attend Mass (where we started attending after that on Sour Sunday last year) is so far the best when it comes to the liturgical abuses. They aren't as many as there are at other parishes. I can usually just sit there and focus on the Mass (and try not to count the number of abuses) and be happy. I was glad that we had the hymns in Latin (thank God!). The priest slipped a couple of times but he's had a great track record thus far so I let it go. I am learning how to have patience at Mass because the more I learn about the Church, the more traditional I get... and the more than liturgical abuses annoy me. I cannot wait until I get my car so I can drive to a parish that offers Latin Masses.

Anyway, point of this post: whether you have experiences like me, where the little things annoy you... or if you're one of those people who hate children crying and making noise in Mass (I can overlook that because I am such love babies and little kids), it's good practice. If you want to learn how to control your urges to tell people to "shut up" in Masses (oh, I've had several neighbors scold at children for making noise, even the itty bitty babies), Church is really a good place to start. Even if you have pretty good patience already but want to strengthen it even more, going to the House of the Lord is great for you. Trust me, we've all had our "ugh, go away" moments in Mass... but you can always work on it or offer up if you're just really annoyed that you can straight. That's what I've been doing lately and it's helping. :D

Alright, homework awaits me... as usual. It's like the Neverending Story, isn't it? Yup.

'Til next time, thank you for reading and God Bless. :D