Surprise menus

So yesterday I was at a lunch to celebrate a parishioner's 80th birthday. There were about 20 of us at one of South wales' best known hotels. The food and service were both excellent, and the company was very good too - half family members and half friends, many from the parish. But the star for me was the birthday lady herself.

Before we started to eat she got up and gave a speech, which I would put up with the best I have ever heard on a social occasion. She recounted a potted version of her life-story, but the brilliant thing was the way she wove into it a passage about each of the guests present. Her words were ones of gratefulness and friendship, emotional but not gushing. She had notes in front of her, but didn't refer to them once. We all felt part of not only the party but of her life itself, and she of ours too. May - you're a star!

This weekend all the parishes in England & Wales had to read a "National Pastoral Letter" from the Bishops on the new translation of the Missal. Actually, it was pretty good, especially the section on the principles behind the changes. 
Shame, then, that at 6pm Mass at St B's someone had accidentally removed the copy of the Letter from the lectern where I had seen it earlier in the afternoon. So when I finished the Gospel and reached down for the text - nothing! Arrrghhh - speakers' nightmare! Anyway as I had already read it 3 times at earlier Masses, I could remember the gist, so gave my own version. One parishioner felt sure that it was better than the Bishops' original. Bless. Parishioners - doncha just love 'em...