Does this "count"?

I'm not proud of this, but I've never been a real stickler about arriving to Mass on time  when I am a member of the congregation.

I suppose this might have something to do with growing up in an enormous household with multiple Church obligations, and multiple parishes attended, with seemingly infinite permutations of who needed to be at which church in which capacity for which Mass time and would ride in which car driven by which parent or maiden aunt (since we had only a single car when there were twelve of us.)

So yeah, except for servers, being late was not all that unusual an occurrence. And we, or at least I, acquired a little bit of the, "did we get here in time for this Mass to count?" sensibility.

(Now that I think of it, we kids, when we were old enough and near enough to walk to church on our own must have made this up ourselves, as my parents would NEVER.) (I mean NEVER.)

Such a mindset is alive and well, as we see we see in a letter to Zenit wondering, when it comes down to it, when blessings "count."

Catholics, ya gotta love'm.


(As if God cannot impart His graces wherever and whenever and however He will....)

(I realize that sounds heretical for someone who someone who adheres to a sacramental theology, but I don't think the two ideas are incompatible. Christ does assure us that with proper form, matter and intent  grace will be extended to us in certain ways, but that in no way prevents Him from thinking, or rather operating outside the box and doing so even, or maybe especially when we and our actions are wanting in some way.)