Who's Got It Better Than We Do?

My husband and I are spending the summer in our old hometown in Upstate NY, working hard at being the caretakers/cleaning crew of our Oyster Haven VRBO lake house (and my husband is commuting to work from here).  So today, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I got to attend a noon Mass at my childhood parish church.  And then I stayed afterward to pray a group Rosary.

We moved to this wonderful town when I was 10, and I went to the Catholic grade school just across the street from this church.  This is where I went to Sunday Mass every week as a kid, but it's not where I got married.  My husband and I actually exchanged our wedding vows in his parish church across town--the one that was connected to the Catholic high school we both attended.  We thought it was apropos to get married there: seeing as how we'd met at that high school and started dating when we were 15, that church seemed to be more a part of our story as a couple.

But the church I was in today was where we gathered in November for my father's funeral Mass.  It's the first time I've been back inside it since he died.

Both of these churches that are special to me are just breathtakingly beautiful, but I thought I'd show you some pictures of the one I was in today.  I had forgotten just how glorious it is; my goodness, it rivals many of the ornately beautiful Catholic churches I've had the privilege to visit in Europe, when I've tagged along on some of my husband's working trips.

How's that for a feast for the eyes, on Our Lady's special feast day?  You could almost believe you were in Heaven, couldn't you?  (And these iPhone photos don't even begin to do it justice!)  Is there anything more beautiful than the inside of a Catholic church such as this one?  Don't answer that, because obviously the answer is an emphatic "No!"

When I am present for the Sacrifice of the Mass--surrounded by beauty such as this, hearing the soothing sound of the voices of the faithful solemnly joined in prayer--I often think of something I heard about the Harbaugh family.  When well-known football coaches Jim and John Harbaugh were growing up in their close-knit, loving family, their parents had a phrase they used all the time.  "Who's got it better than us?" Jack and Jackie Harbaugh would ask their kids.  "Nooo-body!" John, Jim, and their sister Joanie would answer.

Well that's how I feel about being a member of the Catholic Church, the best family on earth, and having this Woman as my Mother.

Truly, who's got it better than we do?  NOOO-BODY!  That's who.