Good Morning!
It’s a warm-ish (for Ireland in mid-November, mind you) Monday afternoon as I sit typing in the Teach Bhride kitchen, hoping that my beef stew currently on the stove turns out to be both tasty and in sufficient quantity for the four of us. The dark is already settling in outside, which ironically makes the day feel longer than it has been, at least for me. Part of that is due to the fact that Jess and I spent several hours this morning trying to cajole the various classes of Scoil Mhuire into singing their Christmas carols (The Wexford Carol has been particularly troublesome…) at volumes that could be appreciably heard. Our last class did an excellent job on the Silent Night/Night of Silence medley, which was encouraging, but the rest of our class visits were akin to pulling teeth! We’ll pop in again on Wednesday, this time to work with some of the younger classes on “O Come all Ye Faithful”, but I guess there’s some hope that lies in the fact that the carol service isn’t for another month.
This week keeps up the busy-ness that Dan alluded to in his blog post on Friday. Tomorrow is the Kennedy Park Penance Service, Wednesday is Molly’s Birthday! (along with some school visits, work meetings, etc…) and Thursday will find us all at the Teach cooking Thanksgiving dinner for a few friends and ourselves. Amid all this busy-ness, especially coming off the weekend filled with liturgical responsibilities, I always find it nice to come into the chapel for daily Mass on Monday. I know I should be better at paying attention during Sunday Mass, but I do appreciate Monday morning, when I have the chance to tell myself to slow down and clear my mind of the usual worries that come when dealing with music, or the powerpoint showing the new responses, and just “be” at Mass, in the sense of allowing my full and conscious self to focus on the Eucharist. It makes for a beautiful Monday indeed, and particularly when we have the rare Irish opportunity to see the sun shining through the Annunciation window in the chapel…
Have a beautiful Monday, and God Bless.
Kurt
