To bring you up to date:
Yesterday, I did get to Pat Lee’s memorial service. I was about 10 minutes late because I had the 10:30 Mass and although I preached briefly, the church was packed because we haven’t begun our other 10:30 Mass in the gym. Communion took a long time and I didn’t get out of the drive way till 11:25. Although I missed the beginning, the cantor was a wonderful speaker and spoke so knowingly of Pat. Then two of his sons, who were about 4 or 5 years old when last I saw them, gave excellent and very personal talks about their dad and their mom. I saw Doug, Eileen and Jay, and Mary Ellen and got a chance to visit with them afterwards. I also spoke with Diane, Pat’s wife. She was so pleased that I got there. I said, “Miss Uncle Pat’s service, never”. She looks great and hasn’t changed at all. There must have been over a hundred people there. There was food, but I drank water.
When I got home, I had lunch and then worked on genealogy. At 6:30, I drove over to DeVol’s funeral home for prayers for Col. Donald Eirich, the family I met with the other day. I think the service went well and I met J.J. McGarrigy, the widow’s brother. He was a young priest when I was in high school and was a cousin of one of my classmates, Loretta Jansen. He was a great guy – and still is – He left during the Humane Vitae controversy. Msgr. Dad liked him very much. We had a nice talk about people we knew. His uncle was Judge McGarrigy, for whom my Dad served as his baliff at the time of my Dad’s death. I remember the judge coming to Dad’s wake.
This morning I was up by 5am and went over to the center to work on some papers for a retreat I was giving to the faculty of Our Lady of Victory school. It was being held in Virginia and I needed to rearrange the schedule because we were starting at 8:30am and I had the funeral at 11:00am. They were very accomodating and from 10:10 to 11:10 spent an hour before the Blessed Sacrament saying (oh they decided to sing) a litany and then reflect on some questions I gave them and then they discussed their responses. Then they had lunch and I was back by 1:00pm. We had a third session and then celebrated Mass. I closed by giving them copies of Archbishop Oscar Romeo’s prayer. It seemed perfect and they and I (and the family and friends at the funeral) all were happy. I planned to relax but a very nice man from the parish stopped in and asked if I would be able to go and see a neighbor who is in hospice at his home. He even offered to drive me, so of course, I went. Please keep Jack in your prayers. We celebrated the Anointing of the sick and had a nice long talk. I’ll take him Communion on Thursday.
I had a message on my phone from Renee Courtois Brodeur to let me know about the arrangement for her Mom’s funeral. It is next Tuesday at Riderwood Chapel and I called her and left a message that I would be there to concelebrate. The Courtois’s lived across the street from us on 62nd Ave. Renee and I were classmates at St. Bernard’s and have stayed friends all these years. She and her busband, Steve, live in New Mexico.
Since I have the 11am Mass tomorrow, I think I’ll go to bed early and not set the alarm. I love what Mort use to call “natural rising”. Good night.
You must be feeling good to accomplish all you packed into yesterday! Glad you are sticking with the eating plan….
You didn’t mention a power outage, so I guess all is well inland. While Charlestown and OLPH never lost current most folks in both areas are still in the dark. Schools may be closed the rest of the week. Adds to the drama on this end.