Catholic Jackpot!

I posted on FB that I felt like we won the Catholic Jackpot this morning. After reading Father Jerabek's post on Friday, we also felt it would have been so nice to have the Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin today. And then at Mass this morning, the Cistercian's processed in (the "Father Parade" as BigBoy used to call it) and low and behold, the main celebrant, Fr. B., was wearing the Marian vestments! As he explained, all of the Cistercian churches are dedicated to Our Lady so today's feast is a Solemnity for them. So, we got the Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary today!

Father's homily was amazing. He talked about the different practices that other countries had for celebrating today. In France, the wine growers had their best bunches of grapes blessed. In Austria, they gathered up extra food to give to the poor and the animals were led through town in a kind of procession as they were removed from their high grazing areas to the low valleys for the winter. I hadn't planned on a big celebration today, but considering the command to celebrate that Fr. B. gave us, we opted to pick up a special treat. A blueberry muffin for the one person in the family who really likes them. And....

...a new flavor of BLUE Bell Ice Cream! Chocolate ice cream with a swirl of creamy peanut butter! Yum! Hey... it's says "BLUE", right?

And if you'd like to listen to a musical version of today's Gospel reading, click play.