Now, this is a very nice thing. You who are Catholic know how rare it is to see a priest at prayer before mass (or after), so that should have made me happy, right? Fr. R is a very holy man, a scholar, a terrific confessor and a faithful priest. But his masses are sooooo looooong…he prays sooooo deliberately.

Mindfully, actually.

Ordinarily I’d say, "this is great," but I’d just gone through three Fr. R masses in a row and I was ready for the casual piety of the pastor or the rather crabbed but genuine prayers of Fr. M.

But no. Bad Lizzie saw Fr. R at prayer and muttered to herself, "Oh, jeez, it’s Fr. R again!"

Good Lizzie felt immediately bad about that, of course. The interior chat went something like this:

"Gawd, you’re such a bitch, what is wrong with you - you come to mass and here you are, getting into the pew before the Blessed Sacrament, and you’re pissing and moaning because you’re going to have mass said by a good priest who might take five minutes longer than someone else. You are hopeless. You should be grateful you even have a priest. God should have lost his patience with you a long time ago."

I decided I would pray my chaplet of Divine Mercy and offer it for the intentions of both my husband and Fr. R - in atonement for Bad Lizzie.