This morning I sat down to my computer to find a flood of email. All said the same thing. Every one was alerting me to the fact, that we had sent out last month's newsletter, instead of January 2013.
Mass this morning, also had an inauspicious beginning. We process either of two ways: the short way or the long way. It all depends on the occasion and the priest. Fr. Jack didn't tell us. All of a sudden we noticed that he was gone. Did he go to the bathroom? Is he off talking to someone? Someone said that they noticed someone vested in a chasuble, in the front of the church. So all of us trooped down to the front of the church: Lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, and all the altar servers.
It's funny how one little thing can throw you off. Well, I guess the rush to get to Father, or maybe it was the crush of people coming in, just at that moment. I dunno. The result was that no one seemed to know what position to get into.
I'm before Father, holding the Lectionary. But I couldn't fit in--so I placed myself off to the side. Then Joan pointed to the kids and said "GO!"
And they did. They went. No one was ready.
There was no music to process in to. The Cantor wasn't even in position. The Lector who announces the Sunday and who's celebrating Mass etc., wasn't in position, either.
But off we went. As I fell into line, I turned around and glanced at Father--the Mass celebrant. He wasn't moving. He stood his ground with a confused expression on his face.
About half way down the aisle, the music began; the Lector announced what's what and who's who; and the Cantor announced the hymn and began singing. I'm guessing that's when Father started processing because at the altar we were standing, waiting for him.
...and waiting.
Good thing we sang all the versus to Joy to the World.
Veni Creator Spiritus in 2013.
