An Advent break...

I didn't write the entry for "O Emmanuel" yesterday, nor the one for "O Virgin of Virgins" today.

The reason is that I helped with the funeral of a dear woman at The Church of St. Edward the Martyr, which necessitated a trip to New York City yesterday and the return today, in the cold and wet weather, on a not quite impossibly crowded train up the Hudson River, which is getting its act together to freeze over.

Mary Wilmot was 101 years old. She was born in Jamaica and came to the United States to find a better life. She found that life, with a wonderful family, and a good marriage to a man who by all reports was a sweet and wonderful gentleman, who unfortunately predeceased her by many years. I loved her spirit and her character. She loved to dance, and at her 100th birthday party at the Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem she danced the night away, putting the rest of us to shame.

Her funeral had seven priests in attendance and a full house of family and friends. The burial was in Paramus, New Jersey, and we got only mildly lost once or twice getting there. The repast was ample, no dainty little plates of finger food here, but chicken and ham and macaroni and cheese and rice and beans and collard greens and salad and rolls and three kinds of cake, and not small cakes either. So when we got back from the cemetery with a worked-up appetite, the ladies of the Church were ready!

I am preaching at the Monastery Christmas Midnight Mass tomorrow, so I may not get to the final two antiphons until sometime after. But I will finish the series!

Meanwhile, to everyone who reads this blog, I pray that the blessing of the Christ Child will be yours, that your heart will be opened as that Little One has opened so many hearts before, and that the love of Christ will grow and bear fruit in your life.

Merry Christmas!