A Lovely Lady Day

It has been a lovely Solemnity of Annunciation. Begun well; ended well.

I had brunch this morning with a parish family, who has been so gracious toward me over the years. They have six boys, who are a joy: we had just a lovely breakfast: muffins, fruit salad, coffee (of course) and biscuits with gravy. And the boys of course wanted to show Father their video games and so forth, so that was great too.

As it happens, the same family was very involved in the Mass this evening. The four oldest boys were all planning to serve Mass, including the youngest of the four, who had never served Mass before. But he is a gamer, and was not intimidated by the fact that tonight, we were also going to have Mass ad orientem! What a guy!

So the boys all showed up very promptly around 6:15 or so; dad and mom were there to lead the music. I can't say enough good about these boys and their parents. Lots of energy so you can imagine it takes a little to manage things, but--thanks be to God, I'm not unequal to the task!

I had some cassocks in the closet--but alas, only one surplice!--so the second oldest, who also was elected thurifer--ended up in cassock and surplice. Then, of course, I'm showing them what's different when they assist Mass offered ad orientem--and, truth to tell, I'm a little uncertain myself, as I don't do this often enough to have everything down pat. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the fact that I'm going to attempt to chant the Roman Canon--with the new notation in the new Missal!--and I'm trying to keep my cool all the while.

Well, I recruited an agreeable parishioner to be the reader, and the boys are all juiced to offer Mass, and we assemble and begin. The schola was splendid--they chanted the propers throughout, it was awesome. The servers did so well, and I managed not to mangle the chants too badly. I am not sure what I said in my homily; I tried to talk about the times, the Lord, the Faith, and our Lady. I fear I didn't say enough good about the Mother of God--but as it happens, once I get going about our Lady, I just go on and on. But I tried to say some things about the hope we have as a result of Mary and her "yes" to the Incarnation.

Well, the big moment came--to chant the Roman Canon. I was sweating bullets; however, I was facing the Lord, so that made it easier. The choir director said I did reasonably well, so Deo gratias! It was a wonderful Mass, and the 30-40 folks who took part all seemed very happy.

Then, after all was finished, a group of us retired to the Italian restaurant in town for pizza and wine. What fun! We had such a nice conversation. I was so happy to talk to the boys who served Mass--their mother and father were so proud!--and it was all such a nice evening. I guess the theme of the evening was: that the joy of Christ coming into the world supercedes all.

Well, I'm home just now and reflecting on what a nice day it was. Deo gratias! Felix festa!