On Easter Sundays, my whole family went to Mass together. First my older sister filed in, then my dad, my three older brothers, and then my mother–who held my baby brother. I got the end, closest to the aisle. I also got the Pinch in the armpit when I misbehaved. The Pinch was accompanied by my mother’s thick Boston accent in my ear, “Knack it off, or you’ll get a licken in front of God and Everybody.” I knew what a licken was but I’d never had one. Still, I was pretty sure it would hurt–which didn’t bother me so much as the idea that to get a licken meant my bum would be exposed in church, during Mass, in front of Everybody–including God.
I quickly learned that baring oneself involved a bit of shame. So, what am I doing here, blogging and baring myself in thought and word in such a permanent way? And why now?
Perhaps, I am here now because I recently turned 50 and am much less inhibited. Yet the truth is, I choose to bare myself before God and Everybody because I realize that we are all on the same journey travelling different paths but for the one moment when you read something that I write and it touches your spirit, and I read something you write that enhances my own.
What I’m doing here is seeking out and sharing nourishment for the pilgrimage—because it isn’t easy and it is rarely pretty.
~Sheila LaSalle
lifewithsaints 