Pop Art

I hauled myself and the kids to Confession* and Mass yesterday. Riley Dino finally took Communion without performing any acts of (we think inadvertant) sacrilege, and I discovered that BoyMan really does know all the appropriate prayers and responses for the service. He usually helps me bookend his younger siblings when we go to church, so I’d never had occasion to witness this for myself. I felt a rush of parental competence that wasn’t even shaken when BoyMan attempted to engage me in dispute while we were in line for Communion about whether he really needs the consult his dentist recommended with an orthodontist.

The Palm Sunday mass featured a dramatic reading of Luke’s account of the The Passion. As I was listening to the reading, I pondered the Passover Haggadah and wondered why there isn’t a similar tradition for retellings of the Passion story. I mean, hagadot are ubiquitous at Passover – they give away the Maxwell House Haggadah at Giant, fer pete’s sake. Leaving aside medieval illuminations and the Mel Gibson movie – okay, and some 18th century oratios – there seems to be a big gap in the popular culture.

On a related note, I really need field trips to the American Visionary Art Museum, which was so close but so far away Saturday morning when I joined Mouse’s Daisy troop on its Breakfast With The Dolphins visit to the National Aquarium, and the Howard County Center for the Arts, where my nephew has art on display.

* To prepare BoyMan and Riley Dino for Confession, which they do about once a year, I suggested we review the Act of Contrition.

Riley: The acts of nutrition?

BoyMan: Hey, I eat my vegetables