\nI knelt at my seat, thanking and welcoming Jesus, as I\u2019d been taught, and suddenly I was in the grip of something I had never felt before \u2014 an indescribable sweetness, an overwhelming sense of . . . what, exactly? I could not have then articulated the ringing sense, deep within myself, of \u201choly, holy, holy\u201d<\/em> like the peal of a bell. It vibrated up from my core, powerful enough to bring tears, and I did not hide them. I was not alone; beside me a pretty strawberry-blonde named Aileen also wept. Hearing her sniffles, I turned my head and we exchanged soggy smiles in perfect understanding. Something beautiful had happened, and everything leading up to it within the preceding hour \u2014 the music, the reverence, the bowed heads of our parents, the precision of the altar boys and the seriousness of the priests \u2014 had contributed to this singular moment, and had reinforced it, too.<\/p>\nAfterwards, still sobbing, I was led away from my classmates by Sr. Mary Alice, my second-grade teacher, who knelt before me and asked what was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cSister, you have to make me repeat the second grade!\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why, dear?\u201d She asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I want to do that again!\u201d I wailed. \u201cAnd I can only make first Holy Communion in the second grade!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I hope you like the piece.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Puffy-Eye\u2019d Crybaby with Monkey Face Inside Catholic is reposting something I\u2019d forgotten that I\u2019d written, and upon re-reading, I think it\u2019s worth recommending to you: I knelt at my seat, thanking and welcoming Jesus, as I\u2019d been taught, and suddenly I was in the grip of something I had never felt before \u2014 an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,43,44,54,92,187,220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buster","category-catholic-vocations","category-catholicism","category-communion-of-saints","category-eucharist","category-nun-news","category-reposts-by-request"],"yoast_head":"\n
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