in communion

Well, I received the Blessed Sacrament in the Catholic Church this morning... for the first time in nearly 13 years. And I registered in my parish.

It was actually not a huge transcendent experience. I have been having some health issues lately - some lower abdominal pain. I know that the techs doing an ultrasound the other day found ovarian cysts... but I don't know the size or whether they are benign or malign. And I've had some extra-curricular bleeding. Like spotting for one week. Then nothing for one week. Spotting for one week. Then nothing for one week.

Since I'm 50 years old, this did not particularly alarm me. But given the presence of cysts, it's starting to alarm me. It now seems more likely that it's related to cysts than a perimenopausal menstrual freak out.

The long and short of this is that I started bleeding lightly this morning. And it looked more like normal blood than like menstrual flow. It was really alarming under the circumstances. And it started a couple hours before Mass.

So I was distracted by thoughts of cancer and dying. And then during Mass, I was also distracted by problems with the music. And then after Mass, no bleeding.

But I persisted and received the Eucharist. And I'm back in communion in the Catholic Church.