Sunday, March 13, 2011
A traditional Catholic Sunday...
...with Mass (pastoral letter from the Archp, 1st Sunday of Lent). In the parish bookshop, the Pope's new book, Jesus of Nazareth, vol 11 was on sale. I couldn't resist and bought a copy. Afternoon with Mother, too cold and wet for her to enjoy a walk.The days can seem long and quiet when you are 90, but there is always family news to discuss, and we talked about Easter and the great-grandchildren, and in due course we'll be going out to buy chocolate eggs...on to collect my bike and then home to make a snack supper, and on to the parish hall where we had an informal get-together to watch a film about Pope John Paul. V. powerful and moving - we'd all been chatting comfortably over tea and cakes beforehand but as the film began silence descended and soon we were all utterly gripped. What an extraordinary gift to the Church was this man, and what an era we all lived through together.
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Dear Auntie Joanna,
It was lovely to read your description of a traditional Catholic Sunday in Britain. While you were speaking to your mother, my sister was comforting a 94-year old neighbor who was frightened because our apartment floor seemed too quiet...was everyone gone? The NY area had some flooding last week, and she is probably still anxious. Thus: reassuring & comforting & visiting with the elderly on both sides of the world of a Sunday. A common language is not all which unites us.
Here, in Westchester County NY, Catholic parishes are usually awash in harp music and shamrocks on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day, patron saint of the Archdiocese of NY. But the devastation in JAPAN was the only subject on the lips & minds of everyone this weekend. Locally, we have hundreds of young families living here for several years for business reasons. They are filled with anguish for their loved ones who experienced the earthquake & tsunami. Our churches offered prayers for those who have died; the survivors in distress; and those involved in relief efforts.
THANKS TO YOU, my sister & I offered prayers for the thousands of men of the Merchant Navy whose names we missed years ago when we were at Tower Hill but whom you told us about in your blog. We will now never forget them. Sheila A. Waters, Bronxville NY
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