How great is this weather? The right answer is, “Really great, Father!” Sleeping with two blankets. Heaven.
Tomorrow is our Tag Sale and we are ready. Don’t have much of a choice …. Sue W will be there tomorrow around 6:00 am and many other volunteers will follow soon thereafter, myself included after I say mass with the Gianelli’s Sisters at 7:00 am.
Today was a historic day. While I am saying almost all the mass in Italian, today I read the Gospel in Italian. It was very short and the words were pretty easy. I am gaining more confidence each day and it keeps my brain active.
Last night I went to St. Mary here in Middletown for the monthly holy hour praying for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It was very nice. Bishop Cote has been under the weather all week, so Father Galvin, the pastor of Moodus and East Hampton parishes and our vocations director, did the honors. He has a really nice singing voice, yes, even better than mine.

My brother sent me some videos from of his trail camera, showing a coyote and a fox passing by some time during the night. So cool to see wild animals so close to your home.

Come Saturday, October 3, we will have mass at 4:00 pm in the church. I hope this will lighten the load at the Sunday morning 9:00 am. No, this is not “mass as usual,” it is mass during a pandemic. I have no idea when “normal” will return, but I am not holding my breath. I feel so sorry for teachers, parents and kids who are trying to get back to school, in some fashion, virtual or physically present. What a nightmare! Always something to pray for.
Today I had a singalong / communion service at the Wadsworth Glenn Rehab Center. Kind of odd. I am standing in the doorway playing my guitar and singing, while the residents are inside the room, most of whom had on blankets. Luckily it was not that cold. It worked out just fine. One of the workers passed out Holy Communion. As the weather gets colder, I don’t think that is going to work out too well. Hopefully we can come up with another solution. But we have to be super vigilant.
I think I mentioned I am reading a book about Andrew Jackson. It’s really good. Politics doesn’t change much, sometimes it’s pretty nasty, even back then.