A Spirit filled headache?

A wonderful weekend, once again, but also one filled with contrasts:

Saturday was the wedding of my cousin Brian to his very wonderful bride Rachel back home in Botkins. It is a unique place that a priest gets to be in, as I have now had a few weddings for my cousins. It is strange that people you have known for nearly your entire life start coming to you for spiritual advice: "Wait, I'm just your cousin." "Nope, you're 'Father cousin!'" Well, anyway, besides a few small issues, the wedding went off without a hitch. It is always nice to catch up with family that I haven't seen in a while. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to head back to the Queen City, as I had Mass this morning at a parish here.

Which brings me to the "Spirit Filled" aspect of the title of this post. I covered Mass this morning at Mother of Christ in Winton Place today. A mainly African American parish, Mass this morning presented an interesting contrast to the Stoicism of my mainly German hometown from yesterday. I was impressed with the way that so many in the congregation greeted one another as they came in before Mass, they also came up to welcome me to their little parish. I felt really at home, except that Mass ran over 1.5 hours! (Really, closer to 2 hours than 1.5) As a final note, I really hope that it is not another 33 years before we ordain the next African American priest for the Archdiocese.

So, about a 1/2 hour after I was already supposed to be at their house, I called some friends who had invited me over for the afternoon. (Phone conversation at 12:30: Me: "I'm just leaving 10:30 Mass." Friend: "How long did you preach?!?!") Well, they live out in the burbs, and had invited me over for lunch and some 4 wheeling. Brats for lunch, makes the German in me happy! Their house backs up against a hill and forest with some trails already established. Steve and I spent about an hour exploring trails at the top of the hill, just ramping up and down the ravines. Well, when we decided to make our way back down the hill and to the house, I'm thinking: "Be careful, this is when accidents happen, " while I swing out to make a turn to go down the hill and promptly hit a tree stump that overturns the 4 wheeler!!! (We've come to the 'headache' part of the title!) I'm mostly unhurt, except for a sore hip, but the mud stain on the jeans was pretty impressive! (Lesson: always wear a helmut!)

So, anyways, here I am sitting watching the NBA finals, just starting to ache more and thinking that I have to pack for tomorrow yet. Oh well, a busy weekend, but one that was joyous nonetheless.