On the Road to Easter

Well, yesterday was First Friday and the Church was overflowing for the noon Mass. I left the gym and prayed for green lights as I knew I would have trouble finding a parking place. The lights were green and I found a space and arrived five minutes before the Mass; I have a nameless friend with a big, really lovely smile, who often keeps a place for me or I do the same for her as we like the second bench in from of the reader which is on the right side when you face the altar. Every other church has the readers on the left when you are facing the altar. Anyway, the Church was full of small children and at least ten altar boys! I think these children must be home-schooled as they show up on First Fridays when school is in session.
Well, my spiritual thought today is based on something I read in the morning yesterday and liked enough to copy it here for you:

It was under the title "Pope Took Late Confessor's Cross and comes from the Miami Herald Wire Services.

Pope Francis confessed that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half of your mercy."
Francis made the revelation during an informal chat with Roman priests about the need to be merciful to their flocks. He told the story of the "great confessor" of Buenos Aires who had heard confessions from most of the diocesan priests as well as from Pope John Paul II when he visited Argentina.
Francis said he kept the cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope doesn't have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath.
"And whenever a bad thought comes to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always," he said, gesturing to his heart. "And I feel the grace, and that makes me feel better."

Don't you love this? I think the world would be different if we all tried to do something like this!