During 9:30 am Mass this morning, I noticed sure signs that the Kress family had made a holy infiltration of the parish, as their oldest son Jeffrey was altar-serving and then when Fr. Larry called children up for the kids’ homily, I spotted little Nicky and Jane.

The man I was hopefully going to sponsor did not come to Mass for the Rite of Acceptance and Welcoming, so I did not have RCIA afterwards and instead invited the Kresses out to our favorite breakfast spot–Taco Cabana!

Back when Robert (aka “the R” or “the REB”) was living with me and the G, we often went to 7:30 am Mass and then went with the Kress family to the Cabana. It was always a good time, especially since Robert and I would try to order ahead of time and pay for the meal because we knew what all the Kresses ordered (much to Big Jeff’s chagrin).

In only a few years, it’s amazing how much they have all grown–Jane is no longer a baby, Nicky is hitting middle school age, Alex is almost in high school, and Sam and Jeff are almost college-bound! What an honor and a special gift God has personally bestowed on me and my roommates in the Kresses’ friendship.

They ain’t perfect, but you don’t have to be perfect to be holy. And so for me, who aspires and deeply desires to be a husband one day, they are a Heaven-sent blessing in a myriad of ways: Jeff as a model of a good husband and father, Sharon as a model of a Proverbs 31 wife, their children as hopeful examples of what my children can be like, and in particular little Jane, who for no other reason than God’s pure grace loved me even as a baby.

God, who knew how disgusted and annoyed I was with children as a young man who had been twisted up badly by Satan.
God, who knew I had forgotten what it was like to be a child in my selfishness and bloated, foolish pride.
God, who knew I needed a little baby girl to show me how much he loves me and to show me what his love is truly like.

Today, after Mass, little Jane held out her arms for me to pick her up and hold her, and so I did and walked outside, with “my little sweetheart” clinging to my neck. Margaret O’Sullivan passed by, gave us a hug and said to me, “That suits you, Devin”, and I thought with hope of the day when God would bring his chosen, beautiful girl into my life so I could share all of this love with her.

If this world can contain such touches of pure joy and goodness, what ineffable love must await us in Heaven…