Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul

This morning was a Missa Cantata for St. Peter and St. Paul. And Paul got to serve as an acolyte with me! When we got there, Will, Matt, Nathan, and Fr. Jason had been waiting for us. Then positions were assigned. Matt was going to be cross bearer/thurifer, Will was boatboy, Nathan was M.C., and Paul and I were acolytes and I rang the bells, and Fr. Jason celebrated. Paul did a walk-through with Matt so he knew what to do but during mass we hit a couple rough spots. During mass there were a lot more people then there were last week (there were only two people =P), and today it was really hot especially with incense. Paul was actually sweating! I had no trouble ringing the bells, though Matt was kneeling next to me, with incense. I thought I was smoking! But other than that it was a good mass, Even though Dad wasn't there to see Paul's first mass =(. Even though Paul has been vested and sitting in the sanctuary, this counts as his first mass because he served as acolyte.

Last of the last

This morning's mass would be The Pastor's last mass with us, and the last we might have =(, and Paul and Will didn't get up on the altar. So when we get there we did the usual stuff. But the weirdest thing was the purple veil for the challice. I don't know why that was. Now after mass, we were having brekfast when The Pastor said, "I would like to prepose a toast, but Xavier forgot the champaine." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? Who said I was bringing the champaine?! He got me there. So that was the last one, and Danny wasn't even there =(

New blog

I have a new blog, sports neXus http://sports-nexus.blogspot.com/

New server sacristy tale

Yesterday, Paul started serving on a Novus Ordo. Well...  the Novus Ordo as Vatican II had envisioned. You know, Ad Orientem, ordinary in Latin, Communion rail. It was like a Missa Cantata. Everyone was there, except Will. So Paul was the server in training that day. During the offertory, when Danny and I were handing the cruets to the priest, (BTW Danny has never served the Novus Ordo, nor Matt) and the priest  walked away, Danny just stood there while I was halfway to the credence table. But we did almost everything like a TLM. That might have been the last TLM The Pastor celebrated with us.

Traveling Chalice and Priest Reassignments

This was supposed to be published on 6/17/12...... but I couldn't use the computer .__. O.K! To business here, I was serving with Ezra, Kelly and her sister, Annie, who was "making her debut". I got there first cause I wanted to be Cross1 so I could hand the chalice to The Pastor, who was celebrating that day. O.K. I know what you are thinking, yes! "Hand the chalice to the The Pastor?" The candle bearers do that. Explanation: Traveling Chalice. Our parish started a pray for vocations program. From the book: "The purpose of the Traveling Chalice is to encourage families to pray for and to promote vocations within their own family." Here's a picture I took of the chalice




It use to be a mass chalice.



The chalice reminds us to pray for priests.  The cord around it reminds us to pray for religious.  The three knots represent the three evangelical counsels - chastity, poverty and obedience - vowed by religious.



Our altar at home.

 O.K Back to the sacristy tale. Kelly and Annie came in while I was lighting the candles, then Ezra. I was really scared when Ezra came in, because we always fight over who gets to be Cross1. So when he came in I said, "you're Cross2,". "O.K" he said. Wow! At the end of mass, my family received the chalice. My plan worked perfectly. My plan was to take the chalice off the table and walk down to the steps with The Pastor. I handed the chalice to The Pastor and stepped down, received the chalice with my family, and when The Pastor dismissed us, I walked back to the altar. At the end of mass, The Pastor said the announcements and the whole congregation got a surprise........ THE PASTOR IS BEING REASSIGNED!!!!! Habemus non pastorem (we have no pastor)! Wait, someone new is coming! Habemus Pastorem (we have a pastor)! Our new pastor's name is Fr. Michael, aaaaaand Fr. Raymond is staying as our new associate pastor =)! I hope Fr. Michael won't mind the week day altar server (Moi). Stay tuned.





"Moment of silence for the champions...

...for those who make going hard a lifestyle,
never wait for nothing
got to get it right now.
I'm in the spotlight
when they turn the lights down
only the champs go the hardest in the 12th round.
I love the fourth quarter.
I love the ninth inning.
I love game 7.
Bring on the competition.
Cause in my heart can't nobody do it better
can't slow me down won't stop me never!
I'm so cashis clay.
I'm Tyson in his prime.
Your own league with'em.
I'm Barry Bonds with mine.
I beat the buzzer baby.
My stroke is hole in one.
You see the checkered flag?
Finish line here I come.
I ain't gotta brag,
I let the trophys do it.
around here we the best,
so come and hold me too it.
I specialize in everything that can't be done.
ain't no more talking about it.
Moment of silence for the champions!


They say we warriors.
They say we did it again (hands high for the champions).
We are victorious.
We only in it to win (stand up for the champions).
No surrender no retreat
we take the battlefield over every time (hands high for the champions).
We came, we saw, we conquered everything in sight (moment of silence for the champions).
Ayyy oh! Ay oh! Ay oh!
That's the sound you hear from the crowd when we come through (they screaming).
Ayyy oh! Ay oh! Ay oh!
We run the town here can't you tell when we come through (they screaming).
Champions!(Cause we are)
Champions!(they screaming)
Champions!(Cause we are)
Champions!
Can't nobody handle us
there ain't no competitors
no wonder why we are (we are the champions)!

-Ron Artest and the Los Angeles Lakers' victory song. When they won the 2009-10 NBA finals

But the Heat didn't win the NBA finals. The Miami Heat have won the EFC Finals. Here are the highlights. Now, the Heat play the Oklahoma City Thunder with, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Kevin Durant, and Kendrick Perkins. And the Heat come with Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, James Jones, Chris Bosh, and Joel Anthony.
 D.Wade: C'MON! LET'S BEAT THE HECK OUTTA THEM! IT'S TIME TO STEAL OUR CHAMPIONSHIP FROM THE MAVS! LET'S GET OUT THERE AND STEAL OUR CHAMPIONSHIP BACK! HEAT ON "3"! 1-2-3 HEAT!

Tonight on ESPN.

Sacristy tale #2 of 2. Eucharistic Procession

When I got there, the 12 P.M mass was at the preface or somewhere around there. The four other altar servers serving the 12 P.M mass were going to be in the procession. The other server besides me was in the pew. During the cannon, I was scared to go in the church because I didn't want to interrupt mass. Then my friend, Ezra, showed up he got his alb on. During the Angus Dei, Ezra and I snuck into the church and went to the altar sever pew. We didn't receive communion since we already did that morning. Exposition started, and we snuck back to the sacristy with the other servers. Before the procession, The Pastor gave us instructions. Ezra and I got jobs that were better than last year, bell ringers! Last year we were boat boys. lol. One of the servers had the job of holding a binder for The Pastor and holding a bull horn. You know, like on of the those freaky megaphone things. When The Pastor turned it on, we heard, WEEE OOO WEEE OOO WEEE OOO! lol. In the procession, we had to stop some places to incense the blessed sacrament. Now a lot'a African-Americans lived on those streets, and I remembered one time we had a Eucharistic Procession, we were walking by this construction site and one of the workers was yelling something at us. Nothing good, I thought. On the way to the place we were processing to, they had  water coolers at a couple "checkpoints" since it was a hot day. I didn't take any water at the beginning and I was sweating. I was next to the flower girls, and asked them if they had any water. No. And I thought No! I'm gonna die in 15 minutes! But thanks to the water stops, I felt great, but then again it's really hard to open up a water bottle and ring bells at the same time.

Sacristy tale #1 of 2. Morning mass

I didn't feel like serving this morning since I had to serve the Eucharistic Procession. But I felt like droping by. The servers that morning were My friend Luke, my friend Sam, my friend John and Moi. We didn't have time to joke around, since it was like three minutes before mass. Our parish has a sister parish in Haiti, and their pastor (I forget his name) was in Maryland for his visit to our parish. That's where I turned into an idiot. One of the only things I know how to say in french (if you don't know this, they speak french in Haiti) is bonjour. So I did the polite thing,

Me: Bonjour.
The visiting priest: Ah, bonjour. Como t'allezi vu?
Me (sweating my head off): UUUUUUUUMMMMM?
Dad: Xav, "bien".
Me: Um, bien?

Sheesh! I gonna have to work on my french, don't'cha think? Comment me if you think I need to work on my french. O.K. Before mass, my mind was racing to try to remember the words I had heard in french before. I could only come up with, Oui (yes), Bonjour (hello, or good day), Merci Beaucoup, (thank you) and I heard these two from Dad since he took French in College, Como t'allezi vous? (how are you?), and Bien, (fine, well). Sacristy tale #2 of 2 coming soon!

                                                                         TRANSLATION

                                                     Me: Hello.
                                                      The visiting priest: Ah, hello. How are you?
                                                      Me (sweating my head off): UUUUUUUUMMMMM?
                                                       Dad: Xav, fine.
                                                        Me: Um, fine?
                                                  

Two sacristy tales

Two sacristy tales today. Prepare your computer!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOSS! A LOSS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! A 4 POINT LOSS! WHAT'S WRONG, HEAT?!?!? Well. Here are the highlights. They did have some great plays though =). Okay so.The Heatles (Lebron's nick-name for the Heat) have to play in the Boston Gardens tomorrow night. WHEN they win, they have to go back to Miami, IF they lose, they're out.

D.Wade: I'VE CONFIDENCE IN YOU GUYS! I KNOW YOU CAN WIN IT! WE TAKIN' THIS CHAMPIONSHIP HOME! YOU HEAR! LE'S GO HEAT ON "3"! 1-2-3 HEAT!

Tomorrow night, on ESPN.

It all comes down to this

Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals is tonight. Who will take the Eastern Conference trophy home ? The Boston Celtics, with Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett? Or will the Miami Heat, with Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, James Jones, Chris Bosh, and Joel Anthony? It all comes down to this.
 D.Wade: LET'S GO! HEAT ON "3"! 1-2-3 HEAT!

Tonight on ESPN.

Sacristy tale (supposed to be published on 5/31/12)

Finally! A sacristy tale! Okay so it was TLM yesterday, it was just Danny and me because Matt had to have his appendix removed last week =(. So I did the usual when I got there, veil the chalice fill the ciborium. Then The Pastor came in and said to Danny and me, "we have a new altar server." I turned around, almost dropping patten and saw my friend, Will. I was really surprised to see him, he only knew how to serve the Anglican rite, which I'll be learning in a few weeks, The Pastor said he was only going to watch, Danny and me serve. Mass started and we said the prayers at the foot of the altar. The Pastor ascended to the altar, and Danny and I stood up, and Will stood up as well (Will was at one of the chairs, at this time), I was thinking, I'm going to have to talk to the kid after mass. When it was time for breakfast, Danny's mom was asking me to talk to Will, I told her I was just thinking of that. So I talked to Will.

Oh Jonah! Jonah! Oh, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah!

The Jonah play went well on Monday. Everyone did everything when they were supposed to do it (exept for one part which you'll read about), and it turned out great, and I thought it would never work. Only one highlight of the play, Paul's solo, because the SD card ran out of memory! Stupid thing. O.K so highlights, there was a recorder performance by some of the choir students. One of the girls who was in the recorder class who was going to be one of the angels in the play put down her recorder during the middle of one of the songs and walked off stage. I asked her sister what was wrong, her sister said she didn't know. I was starting to freak out, but I just calmed down instantly. Five minutes later, the play started, we were just zooming through the first song. In one of the songs, Jonah has to run around the stage looking for a way to run away from God's command, in a part of the song there's a packing company that helps Jonah pack and it was hillarous. When a Football reached Jonah, he squeezed it and SQUEEK! Everybody started laughing. Alright to the sailor song here's the video. It's like 38 seconds:

If you're wondering what I'm doing, I was elected telescopeman

Because I own one.

Then we got to the big storm and we got to throw Jonah over board! HAHAHAHA! Then a bunch-a whale bussiness, and then we got to the ninivah secne and everyone (exept Jonah and the angels) had to wear sun glasses and look mean. This next part is hillarious, after the second verse, the music stopped (we used a CD player), my friend Peter who was Jonah yelled "Technical difficulties!" Everybody laughed. The problem, a mom was plugging her crock-pot into the wall and she unplugged the CD player! lol. Then we plugged it back in and the play continued. End of play.