The Past is Present

I have come to love the Traditional Latin Mass, even though I must confess that I don't always know what's going on. I sit towards the back because if I sat up front, I might cause someone to stand when they should be kneeling and kneel when they should be sitting, etc. I wanted a Missal of my own, even though the booklets supplied at Mass are very helpful, so I could familiarize myself more with the Latin and understand why we take certain postures, etc. Trouble is I don't know one from another and the Missal I did invest in has very few prayers and no "black and red" to tell me what to do and what to pray. Then, a quick encounter between my mother and our beloved pastor lit a light bulb. I was joking to Father that my mother is old enough to have worn a mantilla to church at one time and probably still had it tucked away in a drawer. "I'll bet you still have your Missal, too," Father told her. Guess what? She does!

So, at Sunday dinner last week, my mother produced said Missal, which was published in 1955 and which she gave to my father on their wedding day as her gift to him. And she passed something else on to me, as well - a soft brown triangular lace mantilla that falls perfectly. I'm surprised she didn't still have a hat pin to go with it, but you know what they say: beggars can't be choosy!