I am having a relatively quiet weekend. I had the 5:30pm Mass on Saturday night and the 7:30am Mass on Sunday. The deacon is preaching at both and so I am using Saturday to clean my desk up, get some mail done, and just relax.
I really have not written a decent message since April as I have been busy with funerals and the pollen has kept me low when I didn’t have to be up and around.
As I mentioned earlier I had participated in the funerals of Mr. Vincent O’Reilly; Mrs. Dot Witte, Mrs. Mary Goldbeck, My sister, Marie, Mrs. Margaret Bleistine in New Jersey and a few parishioners whom I knew here at Blessed Sacrament. While each was sad because of a leave taking, each had it’s on type of joy because of the faith that each had.
This coming week, I will have the 11am funeral on Monday at St. Patrick’s in Norbeck of Mrs. Vivian Rainey. Her parents (the Sullivan’s) were my Communion calls 44 years ago at St. Camillus. I buried them but kept in touch with Vivian and her daughters. It turned out that Vivian and her family were great friends of my Great Aunt and Uncle, Josie and Will O’Connell and my cousin, Catherine O’Connell Jensen. Their families have stayed close. She and the girls have been living in Leisure World; I have visited them since Christmas. Vivian was 94 and the last time I visited, we looked through old photo albums and laughed – and remembered!
Later this coming week, I will concelebrate the funeral of Raymond Bocabella, he is the father of Fr. Jim Bocabella, who is pastor of St. Francis Xavier and was here as a newly ordained when I came to Blessed sacrament in 2010.
After the 7:30am Mass, Brian came and took me to the rectory where he made breakfast for me and Fr. Andy. We had a great time. Both of them are good friends to me.
This afternoon, I will have two baptisms. They are the great grandchildren of Mrs. Beth McCoy, who was a parishioner of St. Michael’s in Ridge and a dear friend.
I just came from the baptisms. It was beautiful and delightful. Please keep Evan Lucas and Gracyn Elizabeth as well as their parents and Godparents in your prayers. We had a family celebration in our community room and I think there were about 60 people. The food was great – one of the dads is a chef! I caught up with some of the goings on of the McCoy clan. Hard to believe that a little girl I met when she was 4, has now graduated from college and is working on her Master’s degree. Where does the time go???
I’m going to copy in here now, a message I put on Facebook on May 14th because I couldn’t get on to Paddy.
I just want all of you to know what a great time I had on Friday, the 13th!
I want to share with you about last night. I was with 23 of my family and we ate crabs. We met at the firehouse as we were too many for Maggie’s house. We got there at 5:30pm and left at 11pm. We had such a great time and laughed and told stories and laughed some more It was the 44th anniversary of my ordination; but we were just celebrating family and Marie was so “present”. People brought corn, salad, and even hot dogs and chicken for those who don’t eat crab – Can you imagine that – not eating crabs???? We had a nice cake – as nothing tops off crabs like cake. If I knew how to add a photo, I would but I hope this message will convey how much fun I had being with my family.
I got lots of comments and affirmations that “Family is where it is!!”
I’m off to the rectory and maybe an early to bed because of Vivian’s funeral on Monday. Do keep her daughters in your prayers.