Saturday, December 27, 2008

The gift that keeps on giving

I hope everyone's Christmas was celebratory. A quick review:

Christmas Eve Eve was dinner at a friend's house with their extended family. It is a particular joy as a priest to be invited into so many family homes during the Christmas season.

Christmas Eve: Morning was a stop over at another friend's house for X-Mas Eve Breakfast. Sadly, breakfast was to start at 11, and I got there at 10; so the mother of the house simply put me to work preparing things. As I had the 11:30 Mass, I didn't even get to enjoy the fruits of my spoils!

Christmas Vigil Mass was at St. Jerome's in Cincinnati's California neighborhood. A church with only a center aisle and 11 pews (count em, 11!) on each side, it is a pretty tight fit! Mom and dad came down for this Mass, and then we cooked dinner at the Cathedral rectory and watched Bella, as they had never seen it, before assisting in our own proper way at the Midnight Mass at the Cathedral with Archbishop Pilarczyk. The music was again fantastic!

Christmas Day found me heading back to St. Jerome's for their 9:00 Mass before rushing back home and snarfing breakfast with the folks and dropping in on the 11:00 Mass at the Cathedral with Archbishop Schnurr. Mom and dad heading back north at that point, I was to follow a short time later.

After Mass, I attempted a nap, but I guess visions of sugar plums were dancing in my thoughts, so I sluffed that off and packed and headed north, making all the necessary phone calls on the way. Stopped by one sister's for a bit, dinner at another sister's before rounding the night off at a brother's house and returning to Mom and Dad's.

Well, a lack of sleep and saying hi to many folks I think overwhelmed my immune system, and St. Stephen's Day found me wishing to be a martyr as the flu wrecked havoc on my system. As the family Christmas gathering was to be that afternoon, ummm.... Houston, we have a problem! Canceled till today.

Seeing as how I always like to share, I shared the little flu bug with my mother, who has been down for the count all day. Prompting a move of the Christmas gathering to a sister's house instead of grandma's, and prompting this teary response from the four year old: "We can't (sniff) have Christmas (sniff) without (sniff) GRANDMA!! (sniff sniff!)" Well, mom's got at least one major fan!

Dad and bro and I just ran supplies to host sister's house; which prompted a response from her daughters: "YOU gave grandma the flu!" Guilty as charged! not that I intended to, tho; but subtlety is not their strong suit, I guess.

Oh, well, I was scheduled for a vigil Mass this afternoon at Holy Redeemer in New Bremen, which has thankfully been covered. I think I could've done it, but would've been a rather short homily! Still on there for the two Masses tomorrow, hopefully the headache continues to subside by then.

Hope everyone else has had a better two days than I!

4 comments:

Adoro said...

Merry Christmas Father!

So sorry you're sick...and that you made your neices unhappy by making Grandma sick...!

But at least you like to share. That's so nice.

Gotta say, maybe that's one benfit of being from a very tiny family; no running around! We find a place and stay put! But I am tired and...gotta head out the door for Adoration like NOW!

Bye!

MJ said...

Merry Christmas! Well at least I wasn't sick, just a cancelled flight Christmas Eve. Didn't make it back home till 8am Friday!

Paolo Padrini said...

I'd like to offer this story on my application that brings the prayer on iPhone.
I believe that prayer is Christian and Catholic from spreading. You wonder why you can publish the news and if you can spread it to your friends on the blog.

thanks

fr. Paolo Padrini

Sacred texts: Vatican embraces iTunes prayer book
5 days ago
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is endorsing new technology that brings the book of daily prayers used by priests straight onto iPhones.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications is embracing the iBreviary, an iTunes application created by a technologically savvy Italian priest, the Rev. Paolo Padrini, and an Italian Web designer.
The application includes the Breviary prayer book — in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Latin and, in the near future, Portuguese and German. Another section includes the prayers of the daily Mass, and a third contains various other prayers.
After a free trial period in which the iBreviary was downloaded approximately 10,000 times in Italy, an official version was released earlier this month, Padrini said.
The application costs euro0.79 ($1.10), while upgrades will be free. Padrini's proceeds are going to charity.
Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, praised the new application Monday, saying the Church "is learning to use the new technologies primarily as a tool or as a mean of evangelizing, as a way of being able to share its own message with the world."
Pope Benedict XVI, a classical music lover who was reportedly given an iPod in 2006, has sought to reach out to young people through new media. During last summer's World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, he sent out mobile phone text messages citing scripture to thousands of registered pilgrims — signed with the tagline "BXVI."

Paolo Padrini said...

'd like to offer this story on my application that brings the prayer on iPhone.
I believe that prayer is Christian and Catholic from spreading. You wonder why you can publish the news and if you can spread it to your friends on the blog.

thanks

fr. Paolo Padrini

Vatican. iBreviary: Church pray with iPhone

Dear Sirs,
Editing and Friends of iBreviary,

iBreviary, as you know, it's a new application for iPhone,
available from immediately in Spanish, French, English, Latin and Italian.
iBreviary offers the possibility, in a simple way and in a perfect "Apple
style", to pray in mobility with the prayer of the Breviary.
It offers besides the readings of the Mass of the Day (Missal), as well as the
principal Catholic prayers.
The application, realized by me together with the technician and
developer Dimitri Giani, has got the applause and the encouragement
of the Vatican.

iBreviary has now reached its third updating.
This updating brings important changes:
- available application in version Italian and English
- available readings in English, French, Spanish, Latin and in Ambrosian Rite
- possibility to pray with the Compieta of the previous day
- new dress graphics
- possibility to increase the size of the characters
- possibility of use in formed "landscape" rotating the iPhone
- page of explanation about the use of the Breviary
- fix of some bugs

The application is available inside the app store to the price of
support for the developers of 0,79 cents (Euro).

Besides, also Facebook will have his "digital Breviary". Its name is
"Praybook" and it's an available application on the most important social
network of the world.
The application allows to pray on line with the same prayers of iBreviary.

Thanks for everything.

father Paolo Padrini
www.dimix.it/ibreviary

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=B229A854-1321-AEAA-D3C7465D8C8B5E1C