Okay, just when I want to throw up my hands in despair, my dear son Henry surprises me. I often think he’s just sort of floating through, not paying attention to anything because, you know, it seems like he’s certainly not paying attention to me. Then pow. Hope hits me between the eyes.

Henry

After this morning’s mass, I causally asked him if he could tell me about today’s readings — knowing that the gospel was the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the desert. The same story was his Bible reading for last week. I was just checking.

He said, “Yes, it was the same story I read but it was switched around.” When I inquired, he explained. “In the reading in Matthew, the devil tempts Jesus to put God to the test first. In the reading today, that was the last thing he did.” He was right. Today’s Gospel was Luke and the order is different from the account he read in Matthew.

I know it’s Lent and we’ve buried our Alleluias until Easter … but I have to just squeak out this one little one in celebration of my son not only paying attention to what he read, but actually listening to the readings without being prompted …  alleluia!