What joy for us to have our kids home for Thanksgiving. There was much revelry, tasting of the last of the garden goodies, Michael's home brews, trying to pet scaredy cats, and of course, giving thanks to God for all our blessings. Hard to believe it's Advent already: To You I lift up my soul: in You, O my God, I trust... (Ps. 24:1) Come Lord Jesus!
Monday we celebrated All Saints Day with a low Mass at Stella Maris. Afterwards, we had dress rehearsal for Faure's Requiem Mass and it's always thrilling to have all the instrumentalists and guest singers who make us sound better than we actually are. It's a wonder our choir loft doesn't collapse! Our Altar too, can get crowded. I remember when Max used to serve, we'd sometimes have a dozen boys up there and their movements would have to be finely choreographed so as not to trip over each other. Our priest reads the names of the people who died in our community and this year, it was sad to hear how many died in Afghanistan. It is our faith that allows us to keep our sanity and not sink into despair during these dark times. Due to the pandemic, we now have regular live-streaming of Mass so that those who are homebound can join in, so I actually have a link to a recording. It's not St. Martin in the Fields but what a joy it is for us to sing this music. Every practice too, is a prayer.
I leave you with my favorite prayer to St. Joseph and pretty fall leaves:
