I love that! Funny, but so right on. You remind me of a few other ladies I know, also Catholics in happy, good marriages with large families. These people are a joy to be around, some have handicapped kids, but that doesn’t hardly come into the picture, they are all loving and giving and alive. There is wisdom in what you say about large families.
I’m more like Flannery, ill, alone and almost housebound, too literary and read too much - one must be careful that knowledge or even ‘torment’ does not become a sort of vanity. However, even with such a different perspective, I still feel as you do, that the Church does make me happy.
I’m sorry you’re not well. I know I’m extremely fortunate to have outrageous good health, and a large batch of healthy children. Even in my grandparents’ day (1930’s), I could have expected two or three to have died, already.
Literature is a great gift, but it can get us caught up in ourselves. I often feel that, whatever else might be going wrong with my left, it all fades when I walk into the church. Not only am I right there with the Lord, but if I seem less chirpy than usual, someone will say, “You look tired. Can I help?” or “You seem sad. Let me pray for you.”
My parish really is home - and that’s been true of all the parishes we’ve attended, no matter where we lived. The Church puts everything into perspective.