Yes, Virginia, there is something more important than the Super Bowl

Today is February 5. Super Bowl Sunday. It's also the first Sunday of the month -- the day that Charlie is scheduled to be an altar server at the 6pm Mass. Super Bowl kick-off is at 6:30pm. Mass will get out around 7pm. Does anyone see the conflict here?

When I realized about two weeks ago that Charlie was scheduled to serve during the Super Bowl -- the one that is in our very own city -- I flew to the computer to send an e-mail to the list of servers' families.

"Wanted: Server sub who doesn't care about the Super Bowl."

I sent the message twice and got zero responses. I wasn't surprised, even though I had been holding on to a tiny sliver of hope that I'd get someone who didn't know the difference between a touchdown and a field goal and who didn't care.

Charlie tried to argue that Mass could go on just fine with only two servers, instead of the usual three. And while he is right, I told him "what if the other two servers thought the same thing?"  So I was resigned to DVRing the Super Bowl, not listening to the radio in the car, staying off Facebook and watching the game on delay. Too bad this is one time you don't want to fast forward through the commercials.

Then, last night I received an e-mail from the server coordinator, asking if we'd found anyone willing to sub for Charlie at Mass tonight. I told her no, unless she knew of someone, we would be there.

She replied that she confirmed that the other two servers would indeed be there and they could probably handle Mass with just two servers if we couldn't make it.

Woohoo! Game on!

Until Mike had to open his big (and in this case, right) mouth. He pointed out that the issue is not that we can't make it -- we don't have tickets to the game, we don't have company coming over -- we just don't want to make it. By bailing on the 6pm Mass and Charlie's responsibility as an altar server, we would be sending him -- and the other kids -- a message that it's ok to shirk your responsibilities if something better comes along or if you simply don't feel like doing what you're supposed to.

So, Super Bowl XLVI is tonight. Kick-off is at 6:30pm, unless you're at our house, where kick-off will be slightly later and the first call is "Touchdown, Jesus."