Sorry about the delay. Right after that previous post went up, Typepad went kaput, and so I went to bed.

What was the liturgy like where you were this weekend? Did the presider make jokes about being hungover from celebrating? (Not him…the congregation). Which of the several themes available did the homilist and liturgy focus on?

We had another "straw man" homily – the homilist sets up a situation which supposedly describes how his listeners feel and then corrects the error. In this case it was the, according to him, widespread feeling that Mary could never identify with us and our difficulties, which was certainly news to me. He basically went through the difficulties she did experience, and then said, see, she is someone to identify with. I’m doubtful that most people share the straw man’s feelings, and seems to me there were richer veins to mine than that one, but ah well. Music was mostly Christmas…Good Christian friends, rejoice….

To me, the best part of Mass was having another person around to hold the baby, the novelty of which fascinated the baby as well. Oh, and he (the baby) also attempted singing. He kind of wrinkled his nose, squinted and sang "Ahhhhhh" with a rather pained expression.