The other days while celebrating Mass, it was after Communion that I noticed a lady bug was traipsing across the altar. The bright red shellback stood out nicely on the white linen of the altar cloth. My first reaction was a warm, cozy reaction likely stemming from childhood books and memories. So I gently picked the sojourning bug off the altar and found a place for it among the plants.

Today I read an article online whose title was: “Ladybugs are oddly vicious.” Turns out if you are an aphid, ladybugs are “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” rolled into one.  John Losey, a professor of entomology at Cornell University, says that we think they are more cute than creepy, “It’s just because you can’t see their mandibles, their teeth,” Losey adds. “If you did a real close-up and saw them eating an aphid, and legs are dropping off and parts of the aphid are still squirming … it’s brutal.”

I am hoping the altar-hopping ladybug tells all her “oddly vicious” friends about the good deed done for her… just saying.

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