Monthly Archives: September 2023

Here’s a bit of humor for you… Friday evening at Mass, I thought Father was having a stroke. Real funny, right? No… Here’s what happened. I had diligently set my ribbons for the feast of St. Thomas of Villanova. If you’re following along, that’s one ribbon for the propers – which in this case is just the collect because at that point one is directed to take the rest of the propers from the Mass “Statuit” of a confessor. So at this point I do what every daily Mass-goer with a Missal does. I reach into the back of my missal for the “big guns”. In this case, I’m talking about holy cards that I use when I’ve run out of ribbons. Tonight, it was “Sister Wilhelmina” with the “Dedication of the Immaculata” being used for backup.

I placed the book down on the pew, cool and confident that I was prepared to pray the Mass. I mean, the purple veil cloth covering the tabernacle was a minor distraction for the feast day since it says “white” in my book. No worries. I’m sure the altar boy will get an earful after Mass for his mistake.

Then Father and his entourage stepped into the sanctuary. Hmm… He’s wearing purple as well. OK, must be a votive Mass. I was all set here and he’s going to mess around with me. Of course, it’s personal.

It took me until the Gospel to remember that it was Ember Friday. I quietly tucked Sister Wilhelmina into the back of the missal and moved on.

The reason I thought Father was having a stroke? It seems that even he, despite being vested in violet and all that jazz, also forgot it was an Ember Day. He begin to pray Psalm 42 which should be omitted at a penitential Mass. The altar boys began to reply. Father began the next verse. Then he caught himself, stopped midway through the line about sending “forth Thy light and the truth”. I think it was actually in between deduxerunt and adduxerunt. He froze for about three seconds or one Mitch McConnell. Then he hurriedly jumped to the “Gloria Patri”. And so you see that even the experts mess it up occasionally.

St. Thomas of Villanova, pray for us!

The Communion verse today at Mass (Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost):

“O Lord, I will be mindful of Thy justice alone: Thou hast taught me from my youth, and unto old age and gray hairs, O God forsake me not.”

I have to admit I chuckled aloud as I eyeballed this one in my missal as Father was reading it at the altar.

For the record, my hair – what’s left of it – is still the same golden blonde my mother and all the Saxons, Scots, Dane, and Jutes seeded through the centuries as the day I was born. It’s the beard that’s turned stark white. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. And He has the best sense of humor.

It’s a good thing I have a Y chromosome and don’t really care about these things.

In other news, I’ve seen a few of my favorite bloggers post this of late so I thought I’d chime in. Like them, I also counted myself blessed when I saw an email from Frank Walker a few days ago letting me know that he was on the mend. God bless this man. God keep him with us for many years. I can never express my gratitude to him not only for what he does every day but for his own personal kindness to me.

Keep praying, friends. Frank has plenty more “gray hairs” yet to sprout.