Today is St. Nicholas Day. I mysteriously had some goodies in my shoe this morning, which I had put in front of the fireplace before going to bed. One present on this great saint's day, which, along with Santa Lucia, is a high point of Advent in our household, was Scott Simon's interview with Sir Tom Jones, one of my favorite Welshmen, on
Weekend Edition Saturday this morning. Listen to it and hear what a down-to-earth and gracious person he is. His new CD,
24 Hours is on my Christmas list. Besides, I think St. Nicholas tells us
To Give a Little Love:
Here is a recent embarrassing moment: It happened last Sunday evening as I was preparing for Sunday Advent Vespers, at which I had the privilege of presiding in the Cathedral. It is a celebration called
From Darkness to Light. It is beautiful. During this service, which begins in darkness, the presider processes around the Cathedral behind our world class choir, beginning at the Our Lady Guadalupé shrine, moving to the St. Anthony of Padua shrine, to St. Vincent de Paul, and winding up in front of my favorite shrine in the our lovely Cathedral, the Good Shepherd shrine. Anyway, this liturgy requires a portable microphone, which our chief sacristan, who walks right behind me and who is a good friend, a dear brother, and someone with whom I enjoy joking around, had. Not knowing that the microphone was on, I was joking about warming up my voice. He knows that I am a Tom Jones fan, due to the fact that my Mom was a huge Tom Jones fan. So, I started to sing
It's Not Unusual in a very low and quiet voice. A few minutes later a dear sister came from the church back to the sacristy to let us know she could hear us. I was terribly embarassed and apologized. Hey, I am only human!
