Friday, January 08, 2016

A day in the life...

Here's my day (so far)...

First stop, after the bathroom, was the church sacristy. I turned on the lights and put on my vestments for Holy Mass. As I am in the habit of preparing my chalice the day before, I only needed to double-check it. Then I sat down to pray the Divine Office. As the faithful are usually praying the Rosary about this time, I pray in the sacristy, contemplating the crucifix and the relics that are kept there.

The seminarians, home for Christmas break, come in; they vest to serve Mass, and take care of the candles and so forth. The volunteer whose turn it is to take Holy Communion to the sick checks in just before Mass.

After Mass, the servers take care of business. I greet a few folks after Mass, then I get the altar set up for the Traditional Latin Mass (low) later on. I like having things set, just in case I get called away.

Back to the house. I fix some coffee and some eggs. I bring my breakfast to my desk, where I check emails and do some online reading while I eat. My assistant stops in with some questions.

I have a column to write for the bulletin; also, I need to look at the readings for Sunday and get started on a homily. And I need to get some things in place for while I'm out of town the next two weeks. That, plus some things from my assistant, keeps me busy most of the day. (One of the things my assistant and I talk about is having another educational opportunity for the parish during Lent, to follow up what we did in Advent, which seemed to go well and was well received. But she also reminds me about the upcoming Catholic Ministry Appeal, so we have to think about how all that works out. We solve some conflicts -- that's always good.)

In the midst of all this, I make some calls and take some calls. I print out some documents. I send a copy of my column to the person who will set it up in the bulletin. Writing the various things involved some research along the way, which took me to the Internet. Somewhere in there, I got some lunch, but I can't recall what it was. Maybe I didn't have lunch? I did have a cup of hot chocolate around 1:30 pm...

That's when a couple came in, preparing for marriage. We met for 90 minutes -- actually, a little longer. I talk too much. They pretended to find it helpful!

I had another meeting at 3:30; in between, my assistant had some checks for me to sign. That takes time, especially when I review the invoices, which is what I really should do. This time, I was a little hasty. Sometimes people say priests shouldn't worry about such things. But I'm a father, right? My father always handled the bills. He didn't "shop it out" to anyone, unless it was my mom. That's what the head of the household does.

My second appointment just left; afterward, I saw a few more checks needing signatures. I just finished that. Now I have some time before the Traditional Latin Mass tonight at 7 pm.

FYI -- before Mass, I not only prayed Morning Prayer (Lauds), I also prayed Daytime Prayer (Terce), because (a) it's allowed and (b), I know how a parish priest's day goes. I'll pray Vespers (Evening Prayer) before Mass tonight; and if possible, Matins (Office of Readings) for tomorrow.

I still have my Sunday homily. I didn't neglect it; part of my decisions today had to do with whether I did a homily on the Catholic Ministry Appeal -- since I won't be able to do it on the 17th when I'm away -- or else, do it January 24. I opted for the latter. Sometimes homilies don't come together until the last minute. Tomorrow, in addition to a morning Mass, and the evening Mass, and two-plus hours of confession, I have two appointments. With God's help, I'll come up with some sort of homily before the evening Mass.

Even though I didn't eat lunch, I probably won't have dinner until after Mass tonight. Because we'll have exposition and devotions to the Sacred Heart, that means around 8:30 pm or so. I don't really like to eat, and then go to have Mass or a meeting.

This is a pretty typical day, although not so typical for a Friday, because I don't usually have meetings on Tuesday.

Oh, and I still have some phone calls to make. Maybe I'll do that next...

11 comments:

CatholicNI said...
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Fr Martin Fox said...

Lourdesman:

Now you are turning into a stalker.

Let me explain something. When you visit a blog or website, you are a guest. Here, you are most welcome; but rules of civility and appropriate conduct apply here, in the "blogosphere," as apply in all other aspects of life.

One of them is that when you comment, you make some attempt to engage with the topic at hand. If we were in a room, with several people talking, after speaker A says something about, oh, how penguins migrate -- it would be inconsiderate of speaker B to ignore what the other person said, and attempt to hijack the conversation into whatever topic interested him or her.

This is basic manners. Did no one ever teach you these things? Or do you behave this way when you are sitting with friends, or when you meet people out somewhere?

CatholicNI said...

I thought priests were supposed to be concerned about souls. Time is short. There are "countless" Catholic blogs on the net proving if proof were needed "that the world is full of an infinite number of fools". Who cares about roast pig? The deadly sin of gluttony is as fatal to souls as it always was. America - the most obese nation on earth. Wake up man. Either you are a priest of Jesus Christ crucified or you are a fraud. Now again please let us know how the seven "sacraments" of Paul VI are such an improvement on the seven sacraments of Jesus Christ and Saint Peter.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Lourdesman:

I have news for you, that I am pretty sure your parents tried very hard to inculcate in you, but apparently, you resisted it:

You are not the center of the universe. Pause and contemplate that. Now do it some more.

It is amazing that you think you get to come to my blog, insult me, demand that I answer your questions, and in general behave like a spoiled child.

If you don't like my blog, and what I post here, that's fine; you don't have to read it. And if you want to post pertinent comments, that's fine. For example: if you want to go back to the thread about my roast, feel free to offer comments about how terrible pork is, how terrible cooking is, how terrible my cooking is...all that will be just fine.

Likewise, if you want to post something pertinent to this thread -- have you even read what I posted? -- feel free. I just described how I've been caring for souls in my parish. Apparently you didn't read my post -- you skipped it, so you could post a comment. Amazingly rude.

It may be you have no manners in real life, but I doubt it. I assume you were well brought up, and you somehow have the notion that good manners don't apply online. You are mistaken.

Unknown said...

Dear Fr. Fox,
You are defently your dads' son. I think we all got the gift of gab from him :). And your right about dad always checked the invoices. One should make sure what they are paying is correct, that is the only way to run a business. And that is what the Paster of a parish does. Also the pork roast looked good. Take care & love, Eileen

Unknown said...

Wow, very busy day Father. I got exhausted just reading about it!

CatholicNI said...

Huff and puff all you like about what you call manners. It doesn't change the fact that since the feast of the Immaculate Conception 1965 there are two kinds of Catholic both living and dead. They are Defenders of Christ Crucified and mockers of Christ Crucified. Take Saint Paul seriously and stop using it as a badge of convenience.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Lourdesman:

OK, you have now outworn your welcome. You have behaved rudely and insultingly the entire time you've been commenting here. If you behave this way at someone's home -- I hope you don't, but -- if you do, eventually, you are asked to leave.

Now I'm asking you to leave.

Feel free to return when you remember your manners.

Liz said...

Good for you Father!

Jennifer said...

Fr. Fox, I love reading your posts about your daily life as a priest. :)

CatholicNI said...
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