Happy Feastday!

It's All Saints Day - Happy Feastday to everyone! It's not just a day when we remember all those who have "gone before us marked with the sign of faith", it's more a day for us - the living. We are all called to be saints - it's our original vocation at the moment of our baptism - not to be saints in doing great works but to be saints in being faithful and persevering to be faithful - faithful in little things like our responsibility in our family, work, ideals, charity etc.... So on this feastday I hope everyone will reflect on this theme "I am called to be a saint by being faithful". And by "faithful" I mean "full of faith".

Marco (my 1st cantor) and I were very nervous last night because we had to prepare for this morning's Mass. My 2nd cantor ran off as usual - didn't see him last evening nor the whole day today. Anyway I managed to convince Marco to preside and preach at Mass this morning. Because it's a feastday, we follow the "orario festivo" (feastday timetable) meaning Mass is celebrated at 8am instead of 6.30am. Marco chose an opening hymn, then decided 30 minutes before Mass that I should sing the responsorial psalm and the "Ave Maria" in chinese during communion. And I had half an hour to practice the readings ..... boy I was so nervous. So was Marco. He gave a wonderful homily quoting from a muslim mystic - raised some eyebrows!!!! Everything went well, thank God! despite one mistake on my part during the responsorial psalm - a not-too-big boo boo when I missed a note.

What made us more nervous were the pilgrim groups that kept coming into the Chapel to take photos - lots of Indonesians and Indians today. Uncontrollable! Now if I had been their guide, it would have been a different story!!!! :)

Oh and today we have a big happening - Cardinal Walter Kaspar is coming to visit us at 11am and have lunch with us. Thank goodness it's Marco who'll bless the food. I'd be too nervous to do it. The cardinal is a famous German theologian.

This afternoon I plan to go to the Holy Sepulchre and pray (I know Fr Vincenzo will find this hard to believe!). And probably buy some buns at the 8th Station of the Cross (Remember this always when you make the Way of the Cross and announce - "8th Station: Fr. Lionel buys buns" instead of "Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem"). I think I deserve a treat today, after all it's a feastday!

Will tell you more about the cardinal's visit after lunch. By the way the penguins didn't show up today for Mass ..... they might have gone the way of the canaries .... oh I know why - their superior Sr Veronica returned from Poland last night. They probably went for an earlier Mass in order to prepare lunch for the cardinal's visit. Now they'll make us become like the canaries: overeat and die! (Well think about it - even if we don't overeat, we'll still die ..... hmmmm but that's a thought for tomorrow - All Souls day.)