An Early Morning

The church was filled with more people than usual, especially for a 7:30am mass. There were still open spots in the pews however, separating parishioners from one another. Sitting in the 5th row from the front of the church was a middle-aged married couple.

As the priest finished reading the Gospel, the loud thunder of people taking their seats on the wooden pews flooded the church. The husband made himself more comfortable as his wife sat in attention to the priest as he began delivering his Ash Wednesday homily. A little more than a minute later, the wife nudged her husband who had apparently been falling asleep. She whispered to him, prompting him to sit up almost as straight as she had been.

The priest finished his homily and prepared to distribute the ashes to the parishioners. The church congregation stood as the husband sat with his eyes closed, his head slowly tilting to the left until his wife put her hand on his arm. He immediately stood, looking around him as parishioners, including his wife, responded to the priest's blessing.

Row after row began emptying out into the center aisle. The wife gently nudged her husband to walk to the aisle and they made their way to the priest at the altar.

Back at their seats, they kneeled and both closed their eyes with their hands folded. The wife nudged her husband again, but he looked to her and said something that seemed to ease the annoyed expression that was on her face.

For the rest of the mass, the wife seemed to want to check on her husband as she occasionally looked at him out of the corner of eye. He would sometimes turn his head to look back at her, who looked satisfied with a small smile on her face.

As the mass ended, the husband took a huge breath and they walked out of their pew and towards the doors of the church.