In his sermon this morning, the priest told us a story about how he was sitting in the grounds of All Hallows when he was approached by a well dressed woman. She told him with great frankness about her relationship with a married man. And then explained that he was about to be sent abroad by his company. She said that she did not think that she could live without him and asked the priest to pray that he would not be sent abroad after all. Two questions occur. Firstly, why would she think that this was a good line to take with a priest? Secondly, why would the priest think that this was a good story to tell at the children’s mass?
Later there was a collection for the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society. Daniel got a pile of change from his father but kept back 2 coins for himself to buy sweets after mass. I pointed out that the collection was for people who didn’t have enough food or clothes. “Alright,” he said reluctantly, “I’ll put one coin in the collection.” I suppose we have to consider this to be the equivalent of the widow’s mite.
One wonders if the reason he told the story was because the woman in question was in the congregation. Since the change came from his father, and Daniel was the “middle man” so to speak, perhaps he thought he should have an agent’s commission. Young children have a transparency that fascinate me. They think exactly the way we do in our heart of hearts, but they have not yet learned to rationalize or dissemble.
Gosh WOL, that would be exciting. My m-i-l the psychologist thinks he might be having an affair and this is how he is getting it off his chest.
Speaking as a quasi-member of the profession, I’d say his motive was self-aggrandizement, as in, “See how approachable and understanding I am? Why don’t you out there in the pews see it?”
If I were having an affair, I’d think I would by all means avoid the subject. Then again, guilt can lead a person to do crazy things.
And my mother-in-law is a psychologist. Also, he gave two stories about women having affairs confiding in him – I gave you the better one. Who says I have no internal editor?