Easy Like Sunday Mornin'

I took the wonderful opportunity to use the extra hour to sleep last night. Saturday had turned into a crazy day - but a good day, nonetheless.

After the Mass of Remembrance for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) yesterday morning, we had about a half-hour break until confessions started. Following that was to be a somewhat relaxing time and final preparation for our Festival of Praise that evening.

Of course, it was anything but.

We had two parishioners come to the main office to let us know that while they were doing some prep work in the social hall for an upcoming project, something slipped and caused a pipe to burst, leaking water onto the floor.

UGH.

I ran down to the social hall with one of the gentlemen to assess the damage, which, thankfully, was not a lot. But because of the flow of water coming out, the recommendation was to have the boiler checked out, just in case some air got into the system. So we had a guy to come out and check our boiler. (He did find the reason why an alarm kept sounding, which was good.) In the end, it looked like the pressure was normal, and everything seemed to check out fine.

Thank goodness this weekend was "Deacon Preachin' Weekend", and I didn't have to prepare a homily.

The rest of the day seemed rushed after that. I felt ill-prepared for the second batch of confessions and Mass. I REALLY felt that I was out of the loop for the set-up for the Festival of Praise. 

But, as with anything dealing with faith, allow the Lord to be in control, and He will be. He worked out the kinks in the system, and everyone seemed to enjoy the FOP.  It was extremely small in number, but that's okay. The very fact that we allowed for the opportunity for people to slow down a little was what was needed. 

Following the FOP, I joined some friends for some snacks and a drink, where we just enjoyed the time to sit back and relax. - That, too, was also needed.

So, like I said at the beginning, I took advantage of the extra hour to sleep. But I REALLY took advantage of the fact that I wasn't scheduled for anything until the 12:00 Noon Mass today. I slept in, took my time getting ready - including prayers and showering and such, watched the news, piddled around for a little, and then got ready for Mass and the celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick following. (Both were wonderful celebrations of the Sacraments.)

It was an easy Sunday morning.

Now, I'm looking forward to an easy Sunday afternoon. Usually I'm around for our youth ministry gathering in the evening. Since they had an event last night, however, the rest of my day is free. 

I have to laugh at the events of the last thirty-six hours or so. This is the typical life of the priest. An "ordered" life, seemingly interrupted by the flow of life. --- And that's a good thing. --- It's why I chose to answer the call to the priesthood. And while I'd rather not be dealing with boiler emergencies, it's a part of parish life that we all have to deal with. And while I'd rather have the easiness of the Sunday mornings like I had today, I would hate for it to become the routine, since the diocesan priest's life isn't really about routine (in a sense), but simply being available.





Enjoy the journey . . .