It was one of those moments that really make you understand the phrase, “Fear of the Lord.”

Morning Mass.  I usually sit in the center, second row, in the middle of the row.  Not that I sit in the same place all the time  – no, no, then I would be Catholic.  Oh.  Wait.  Hmm.  Maybe that *is* me….  But this morning someone was in my “usual” spot, and I didn’t want to try to hop over her to my second or third choice seats, so I sat at the end, which is kind of a 5th choice location.  (Does anyone else have tertiary-level preferences?  Or am I just an odd duck?  This is really odd, because I’m not this picky for Saturday or Sunday Mass, or any Mass held in the church as opposed to the day chapel.  Although, when I arrive late, my preferred spot in the day chapel is usually under the piano or behind some potted plant.  🙂 )

For some weird reason, there weren’t as many people as usual today, so what happened was I was one of the closest people to the gifts.  Oooh, boy.  I usually try to avoid that, because I haven’t been explicitly invited to touch them by the priests and I live in fear of them smacking me for doing something wrong.  So, when the time came and no one had sat down any closer than I, I went up with another girl and presented the wine to Fr. Steve.  In that moment, I was scared, and I’m sure my face turned bright red, and I kept thinking, “Wow!  *This* is going to be turned into His blood!  And, *I* am carrying it!”  (I’m such a dork, right?)  I was so happy that it was Fr. Steve, since I don’t think he would want to smack me maybe as much as one of the others, if I messed up.

Happily, he said, “Thank you,” instead of banishing me from the chapel.  Praise God!  🙂   I’m probably too scared to do that too often, but I’m glad I got to do it, at least once.