An exceptionally happy Ash Wednesday

A scene from the "paper basement' today. The "paper basement" is also
noteworthy for its fine acoustics. We singers love what that echo does
for our voices!

A truck pulled up to the motherhouse loading dock today, delivering the long awaited St. Paul Missals! We should be getting our order in ... next week? That's especially good news because the new liturgical texts for Lent are so rich--not to mention the new feature of an optional extra prayer at the end of the Lenten Masses. It will be great to have the Missals on time for (most of) Lent.

Speaking of time, I just got back from the Ash Wednesday Mass at Our Lady of Mt Carmel. We in the choir got our ashes at the very end, after most of the people had left (hopefully with the Allegri "Miserere" still ringing in their hearts). I was struck at the sight of the toddlers with their ash-marked foreheads. Such a poignant reminder of the stranglehold sin has on the human race. Father Srenn (the pastor) gave a homily on Lent as a call "back to the Garden" of original innocence. God is always in the Garden, and that is our place, too. It is just a weary journey now, and that wasn't part of the plan.