Bethune Catholic

I have been wanting to get in the shop to craft some Christmas presents, but so far my sons have been monopolizing the shop and my tools. There is only room for so many cooks. But I promised them I was kicking them out starting tomorrow as time is running short-although, I don't feel too much pressure to have everything made and finished by the 25th. Christmas is after all, a season.

Even better, I have been toying with the idea that I will have each one help me make their own present. The time spent together working and teaching may be more valuable than the gift itself.

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A great friend of mine lost his mother in September and his father this week. We attended the Requiem Mass for the father yesterday in Columbia, SC. It was only the second Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form (TLM) I have ever been present at. A priest from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter flew in to offer the Mass.

My sons being some of the few altar servers at our small parish, I go to several funerals every year. Very often there are very few communicants at these funerals. No wonder, we live in an area with few Catholics, so friends attending are often Protestant. But often times many of the family members themselves are not communicants. It may be the case that the deceased was a convert to the Faith, but also, I suspect, sometimes, the family members are no longer practicing Catholics.

This wasn't the case yesterday. The deceased had a large family and there were many, many communicants. Praise be to God for a life well-lived and a great passing on of the Faith to his children! May his sould and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace!

Oremus pro invicem!