Catholic Sensibility

Merry Christmas, all! As my weekend winds down, I had to laugh at the thought of a large parish doing without a liturgist, a development a few of my guests on CS would relish. I confess sleeping late yesterday, but as soon as Anita cleared the premises, Brit and I wrapped up some presents for her, unearthed the tree from the basement and had it set up by the time my wife returned home. I was on the premises by 12:30 at the parish, running programs, collection baskets, and a Lectionary off to the school auditorium for 3:30 Mass. The Chiefs had their game wrapped up by halftime, so we had our usual huge crowd coming for double Masses: 600 in the Church; 300 in the school. Our Sunday Ensemble played at the 6pm Mass, then it was a quick drive home to drop off the women and get me back to brief servers for 8:00 Mass. Fr Walt decided he liked the incense and gospel processions the priest did at the other two church Masses, so what the heck, let's do it again at 8. (That's what they pay me for: letting clergy or other folks make decisions and get me to make sure it happens.) Afterward, I grabbed a quick dinner in the parish office and polished off my music outlines for Midnight Mass, which has traditionally been a pick-up choir. I had a few teens from the Sunday 5pm Mass, two singers from the big choir which does two of our eight liturgies, and various musicians mostly less involved in regular parish music. What a group! Five men and six women; they did such a marvelous job. I got home about 1:15 after locking up the church, waking my wife. Then it was off to the basement to wrap Santa stuff. I was still pretty wired when my head hit the pillow at 3am; it took me some minutes to get to sleep. Brittany came roaring in at 6:50, "Presents! Presents! Let's get up!" (You parents know the routine.) I confess to skipping the 8am Mass; my wife rightly puts her foot down when the option is delaying unwrapping to early afternoon. I'm pleased at some great kitchen gear from Santa this year; including a very cool blow torch (actually a Creme Brulee set) and a new blender to replace a ten-year-old wedding present. I have sacristan duty at our last Mass at noon. After lockdown, I hope to get in some serious zz's while Brittany watches Mulan or Shark Tale or Narnia. I don't think we'll be making Creme Brulee today. Come to think of it, I forgot to pick up chicken at the store yesterday, so it looks like a trip to IHOP or maybe some "Chinese Turkey." Anyway, sorry to be the scrooge for my crunchy-con friends out there. Priests are wise enough never to fire their liturgists before or on Christmas. For one more day, we're having great fun with the Church's liturgy, filling the pews by the vanload, singing fairly sappy and sentimental songs. The Barque is boarded to the brim today, and SCGS* folks are bound to be muttering in their Christmas brandy. Peace on Earth, good will to all, and a hope that a few of them will come back next Sunday. * small church, getting smaller