I had the 8:30am Mass today and was vvery surprised that almost 80 people came. A number spoke to me after Mass to say how much they have enjoyed my homilies. “You always say something that is thoughtful in such a short space”. That was very sweet.
I just finished listening to two lectures: One of the Italian campaign in WWII and the other by Gerald Raffe, who is a political cartoonist from Great Britian but appears in the New Yorker as well. He was very entertaining and glib. I found the lecture on WWII. I learned a lot about the bombing of Monte Cassino, a Benedictine Monastery.
I can not believe that I forgot to tell this story yesterday. Many of you know that I give up Snickers for Lent. It may not seem like much but I really enjoy them and often I might have 4 or 5 in a week. I do other things for Lent but that is a “biggie”. Yesterday, Easter Sunday afternoon, I was lying on my bed reading and Patrick said, ” Oh, good I see you have some water near you. It will help you to wash down your Easter gift.” Then he took out a Snickers; broke off a small part for himself and handed me the rest. It was soooooo gooood. The best part was I had looked in the ship store and they didn’t have any Snickers, so I asked Patrick, “How did you find that?” He said, “Oh, I brought it from Chicago. I knew you would enjoy it for Easter!!!” And I did! What a good and thoughtful friend.
That’s one thing I really like about Pat – he is a PLANNER!!!
Wednesday: we have 4 funerals this week…and 2 are BIG. No rest for the weary.