Returned to Mass and confession

I only offer this as encouragement for others who might be in similar circumstances, as well as to advocate for the necessity of the sacraments.

Deo gratias, I was finally able to assist at Holy Mass, and to make my confession, both delayed due to the pandemic and my father's need for constant care, longer than I care to share or discuss.  It was a diocesan EF (Traditional Latin Mass), and it is hard to describe the utter joy and peace I felt at my life of faith having returned to normal.  Not to get too personal, but everything all fell into place at once --- the lifting of restrictions due to assembling indoors being judged safe again, it having been over two weeks since my second vaccination (Pfizer), and being able to encourage my parents that I would only be gone as long as necessary (40-minute drive each way) and would return immediately if I were urgently needed. 

If anyone else here has recently been able to return to Mass and the sacraments --- whether EF, OF, DL, or what have you --- you know what I'm talking about.  It's an inner peace, the closest thing I could compare it to (though I've never been) is a Quaker silent church service.

How good it is to be back!

(And I wore a checked oxford shirt and purple tie, I looked quite the dork, but it is all I had easily available on fairly short notice.  So if you saw a big guy at 1 pm Mass today with a shaved head looking like a tall Easter egg gone horribly wrong, yep, that was me, and now you know more or less where I am.)