the masses

All masses were well attended, I think. I covered the children's mass at my home parish; it was packed. Much hub bub. Somehow the place didn't look as breathtaking as it had in the past. I ran into my pastor before the mass started, got a hug and said something as charming as "Where is Fr. XX? (the associate pastor)" The reason being that I needed the associate pastor to debug something.

As usual, the mass began with a greeting and announcement of who is presiding (the cantor would look over to the processional line-up and locate the priest). Well, no priest was found in the line-up, though we did see the associate pastor running around, so his name was announced. To our surprise, we had a visiting priest. He never announced his name, so we didn't know it. The presider opted for the Apostle's Creed instead of our usual Nicene Creed ... the natives got confused, plus many of the natives don't know that creed (guilty as charged, and a clear indication that I don't pray the rosary much).

For my part, I made a few boo-boos and am not happy about that. But it's okay. All is well.

For midnight mass, we went to the cathedral. It started with 1 1/2 hour of music prelude. By the time mass started at midnight, the place was packed. It's always good to see (and hear) our Archbishop. Unfortunately, my throat was not well and I couldn't join in the singing. We got home some time after 2am.

We decided that we wouldn't attend a Christmas day mass (being that we need some rest). I'm sure the masses at my home parish were well attended. This is the second year that I've missed midnight mass at my home parish and am seriously re-considering for next year.

Nothing says Christmas like the Christmas eve masses. I was blessed to have attended two.