Surprises

Just when I was beginning to think that the surprises were all uncovered, along came two more today.

This morning, just before the Mass began, one of the Sisters went to the hymn board and removed the numbered reference to the closing hymn. I figured that this meant that we might not be doing a closing hymn, and that the celebrant, and subsequently all of us, would therefore exit the chapel in silence after the final blessing - not so. To my surprise, when the time came for the closing hymn, all the Sisters broke into song. I'll have to do some more research if I want to know exactly the song they were singing (words in Latin) but as one of them explained after Mass, the Community has always had some form of devotion to St. Joseph (their patron) on Wednesdays. At some times, there have even been processions around the chapel!

What a gift for those of us who are not part of the Congregation to be so accepted as part of it, even just for a few days!

The second surprise came during lunch, just a little while after Mass was finished. It seemed as though most of the guests had found their food and were seated when one of the Sisters came by bearing an abundance of chocolate bars which she cheerfully distributed to each table. Candy incites great excitement among children of all ages, and this crowd was not to be outdone.

One of the Sisters who was seated at our table took a bunch of the candy bars that had been deposited and passed them all around. Each person could take the kind of bar he or she wanted, and finally one bar was returned to the Sister who began passing them around. Whether or not she truly did want the particular chocolate bar that returned to her, I may never know for sure, but from her reaction, one would think that God knew that she really wanted that one, and made sure that it came back to her.

An act of Providence? Perhaps, but a lesson for all of us about gratitude for favors small and not so small.