September 29 is the Feast of St. Michael in the old calendar (and the Feast of the Archangels in the new). Our parish had a Missa Cantata that day followed by a potluck, which we estimate 100-120 people attended. The food was plentiful and spontaneous volunteers to clean up afterward were cheerful: a success over all!
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| Queued up for the procession |
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| Processing while carrying daisies and singing a traditional hymn in honor of St. Michael the Archangel |
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| Our priest joining the procession |
We arranged a small altar to St. Michael the Archangel to which we processed and where the children arranged the daisies.
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| Apparently daisies are the official flower associated with St. Michael |
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| Our priest blessing the food |
There was more than enough food to go around. When children finished eating, they were invited to make archangel paper airplanes.
Bonus humorous story from Mass that day: The children in the cry room were particularly noisy that day. So noisy that I couldn't hear any of the music, readings, or priest's homily. My daughter was no small contributor to the volume. She kept singing songs, often religious, but that were not the songs being sung at that moment by the choir. As she was belting out Salve Regina or something like that, I reminded her yet again, "Margaret, it is not time to sing that song. The choir is singing something else. Please don't sing that!"
She eyed me carefully for a pregnant pause, then asked seriously:
"Can I do the chicken dance?"
We were out of town, if not we would have come!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the children were joining in with the great chorus of angels present that day! Lovely procession.
ReplyDeleteOn another note my husband and I, unable to attend the happy luncheon, were met in the parking lot on the way out by a gentleman (seen in the background of the procession photo with your husband and Father Reid) who was looking for a place to spend the night. He'd traveled from Columbia SC where he'd spent the night at St Joseph's church and wanted a safe place to stay in Charlotte where like so many now he hoped he would find employment. He said he was a painter. At the time we couldn't recall the name of the service "A Room at the Inn". Anyway we refered him to Father Reid and also pointed out Chris as persons he might ask. We do hope he was able to speak to someone for directions.
Enjoy your blog. Ann Lawton
Ann: I don't know the gentleman painter, I hope he was able to find a place to stay.
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