Catholic Guilt...

Last year during Lent my sacrifice was actually going to church with Adam every Sunday (some may say that making church a sacrifice has reserved my spot in Hell...) Much to my surprise we actually did attend church regularly, and continued to attend until the fall. Then Adam's schedule changed and got in the way of our normal weekend routine, and before we knew it our church attendance went from great to nonexistent. We always had good intentions of going, but didn't set the alarm, or came up with some lame excuse not to attend.
Last week Adam was working and ran into Father Gary (our priest) and began a conversation about our church attendance. Adam said that his job and schedule had been in the way and Father Gary gave him this look that said, "Do you have any other excuses to throw at me?" So, needless to say, our Catholic guilt plus the fact that it was Palm Sunday led us to church this past Sunday. The church was packed and we were forced to sit in the balcony for the mass. During communion we made our way downstairs and Father Gary spotted us and chuckled a little at the sight of us.
During the walk to the car, Adam and I were having a conversation about Father Gary's reaction to seeing us at church. I couldn't help but think of how often Father Gary must hear lame excuses as to why people don't attend church. All we have to give up is 45 minutes of our time once a week. Think about how much he has sacrificed in order to do his job...