Read Saint Training for Free Online Page A

snickered, but Mary Clare and her father glared at the girls. Mary Clare tried not to think about how many people behind them were staring.
    Gradually, Mary Clare pulled her attention away from her family and into the service. But when Father Williams started the sermon, she decided to pray rather than try to follow whathe was saying. Even Saint Theresa would have had trouble listening. She prayed that her mother would not lose her faith, and that she would be okay with having another baby. She prayed for God to bring her family enough money, for her parents and all her brothers and sisters, for the pagan babies and unpopular kids and the poor souls in purgatory. She thanked God that the long winter was over and that they would soon be out of school and able to go swimming every day. She prayed to win the essay contest on vocations so she’d know that God accepted her deal to take care of her family if she became a saint. Finally, she asked God to inspire her to find a way to get the two dollars and twenty-five cents she still needed to turn in to Sister Agony.
    She was abruptly pulled out of prayer when Johnny dropped his picture prayer book over the pew and practically fell over trying to get it from the floor in front of them. As Mary Clare pulled him back, Martha tried to retrieve it. She bent over the pew as far as she could, revealing a bare bottom! There was an audible gasp from the row behind them, followed by whispers and giggles. Mark pulled Martha roughly back to her seat. Mary Clare hadn’t seen his face so red since the boys played cowboys and Indians years before and Mark painted his face like a warrior.
    Underpants! Mary Clare remembered far too late. That’s what she had gone downstairs to get.
    Then Johnny started to cry because he wanted his book, Martha cried because Mark had been mean to her, and Gabriella took off the Kleenex she was wearing as a hair covering to wipe both of their tears. Mary Clare got the two kids to smile at Luke, who looked angelic in his server’s garb but was looking anxiously at his family. When he saw that Johnny and Martha were smiling at him, he wiggled his ears in that hilarious way of his. Both kids laughed and stopped crying. Unfortunately, most ofthe congregation laughed too, which made Father Williams furrow his eyebrows and raise his voice as he consecrated the host.
    Mary Clare lowered her eyes and prayed with her whole heart to be invisible. It didn’t work. She didn’t dare look at her father, who she knew would be furious, or Mark, who would be mortified.
    After Mass, Mary Clare was grateful that the family was in the front of the church. It meant that they would be the last people out of the sanctuary and wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. But a few of her parents’ friends waited for them in the vestibule. Mary Clare ignored the adults and held Martha’s hand tight. She was surprised when she heard laughter and realized it was coming from Mr. Zimmerman. “It certainly made for a memorable service,” he was saying to her father. She looked up to see her father’s angry look relax into a smile. Maybe his mood would soften now.
    As the family raced through the parking lot traffic to avoid getting drenched, Mary Clare commented that Mark had left immediately after Communion.
    “Where’s Mark?” Anne asked.
    “Walking,” Mary Clare and their father chorused.
    “If we pass him on the way we’ll pick him up,” Dad said. Mary Clare was relieved to hear the tenderness in his voice. She hoped they’d pick him up within the first block or two.
    But they didn’t see him on the way home. They didn’t talk about what happened in church, either, because Johnny wailed the whole time. He was wet and hungry and didn’t want to sit on anybody’s lap, which wasn’t possible considering how crowded the car was.
    As Mary Clare was setting the table for Sunday brunch, she caught a glimpse of a soaked Mark racing up the stairs. But by the time they were ready to eat,