Requiem

We celebrated Teresa Walsh's Requiem at St Paul's this morning. The church was packed and there was a wonderful atmosphere of shared faith in this Mass for a much loved mother and grandmother, sacristan and so much more at St Paul's. A huge proportion of the congregation received Holy Communion - sadly not too common an occurence. Everyone commented on how Teresa's family were all involved - from daughter Clare on the organ, and all three daughters singing a Mendelssohn piece at Communion, to others reading, singing, intercessions, offertory etc. It was so beautiful to witness in her family Teresa's legacy of faith and love. Five priests joined me in concelebrating, and I know that our own Fr James will be sad to have missed a very, very special Requiem Mass. People may forget how inspiring all this is for us priests. So much of our time can be involved with those rather on the margins of the Church community. That is only right - Jesus himself spent a lot of his time "on the edge", but it's good also to celebrate a person of faith and love - and to do it with gusto!!