Saturday, June 13, 2009

Didn't get back to the rectory today until about 1:30 or so. Had traffic not been so awful (thank you torrential downpour!), I may have arrived a bit earlier, but as it turns out I really didn't have much to do until 4-ish anyway. I scheduled a Communion visit, had a bit of chit-chat with a brother seminarian, and updated my other blog a tad...but 4:00 came FAST, and with a vengeance!

Being the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and all, Luciano, the music Director, and Fr. Steve, the celebrant for the 5:00PM mass, were naturally quite busy trying to figure out how to work in the Eucharistic procession with the mass. Fr. Steve had his hands full; I'm sure he was more than a tad disappointed when I told him I was cantoring (meaning that I couldn't be Thurifer/incensor). To top it off, only 1 server showed up, and the candles we had planned to use literally fell apart when we tried to set them up! NOT cool.

But hey, I got to sing Pange Lingua, and Wyatt, our lone server, did a pretty good job being thurifer for a first-timer (and, seeing as I have yet to be a thurifer myself, I REALLY gotta give him props!). Hopefully I didn't scare him off with my accolades and constructive criticisms afterward. His dad seemed content, as well - the family recently suffered the death of a loved one, and I'm sure it's still on their minds. To any who read this blog: Please offer a prayer or two for Wyatt and his family!

I had a fairly prayerful evening till about 8:00Pm or so, when the aforementioned Luciano and Ursula, a cantor at St. Benedict, invited me out to a carnival at St. Bartholomew Parish. He introduced me to Fr. Jason (who I had met at a party the week previous), and I took the opportunity to ask him about a certain Fr. Dave Sadjak, a priest who, after a brief two-year stint at my home parish of St. Leonard, did another two-year term at St. Bart's immediately following. There have been all sorts of rumors about what exactly happened to him after that - though I was fairly close to Fr. Dave (he was my "priest sponsor"/spiritual director at my high school, Quigley) even I wasn't sure of his whereabouts since then. Fr. Jason told me what everyone had feared to be true: his father had passed away (requiescant in pace!) and that he was currently residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. He told me he'd send me Fr. Dave's e-mail; unfortunately, I didn't get Fr. Jason's contact info, so looks like I might have to do a little digging AGAIN. Ces't le vi.

God almighty, may everything I do be a testament to Your glory, power, and love. Never let me stray from you! Keep me close to You and keep me safe from all that can harm me. AMEN!