The last 10 days have been as tough but as rewarding as you might expect.

I began Palm Sunday weekend a little later than of late arriving at church in time for the Vigil Masses. The Sunday Masses went well also with processions at each one.

At one stage I’d planned to keep Monday as a day off but there were additional things to do  as well as a funeral so went in until soon after midday and finished the day by returning to prepare and deliver a Holy Week choir practice.

On Tuesday I had another session at the physio before driving to the cathedral for the Chrism Mass. This was a grand affair and was followed by lunch with my colleagues in the Diocese. After an afternoon relaxing by the pool I went in to do a couple of hours preparation of an article I was writing for Society of St Gregory.

Wednesday began as usual with a school Mass after which I drove to Fort Desoto for some kayaking until late.

Thursday marked the start of Triduum so I went in around 2pm to set up the keyboard for Sunday’s overflow Mass and did some admin before meeting the choir at 6pm, the Mass at 7pm and Night Prayer soon after 9pm. The choir were wonderful and many people attested to this.

The following day Good Friday began with some office time before meeting the choir prior to the Passion Service which lasted over 2 hours. I stayed to do a bit more work on trumpet parts before retiring home.

Saturday began in a relaxed way at the pool during the morning and then I went to the office around 3pm. The rehearsal was not until 7pm but I needed to sort a number of things for the forthcoming week if I was to be able to take most of it as time off.

The Vigil went extremely well despite some misunderstandings which left the clergy waiting as sang all of Hallelujah Chorus. I wasn’t too upset as it was clear from the worship aid what my intentions were but there may be some embarrassment elsewhere. The Vigil began at 8,30pm and ended at about 11.40pm I joined the reception briefly but as I had to be up early the following morning I went home. Clearly I was so wired up that I could not sleep much until about 1.30am.

My alarm awoke me very rudely at 5am and in 15 minutes I had a quick breakfast and set off for church. I had left all the sound equipment for the Sunrise Mass just inside the church the previous evening so this just had to be moved into place outside and wired up. This was not an easy task in the dark! Many people turned up for this atmospheric Mass. Towards the end of Communion I sang a song (Joncas’ ‘As Morning breaks’) relayed from inside the church. It is a beautiful song which I recall Joncas singing at one of his conference spots in UK but had never used until this moment. When I stepped back outside to continue the closing rites the sun had risen and day had come!

One of my choir was at the sunrise Mass and offered to bring me some food. I accepted the offer and after the next Mass there were various fruit concoctions waiting for me. She had clearly returned again later with more substantial food for lunch. After the 9.30am Mass our flautist brought me lasagne and some wonderful Italian savoury tart.

I was really tired after all the Masses on little sleep and hit the armchair soon after returning home at 2.30pm The foods came in very useful as I dozed and watched TV before eventually hitting the sack around 9pm.

I awoke this morning at 8am having agreed to Skype my mum. She was in fine fettle having spent a good Easter at hers with brother Richard and his fiancée Camille. I did a bit of furniture re-arranging in the apartment and sat down to watch another film when I heard water dripping. The toilet cistern had flooded and there was water all over the bathroom floor. I called on the engineers and they were round with vacuum’s and know-how very soon after.

Now it is 4pm and having been off the booze for much of Lent I will drop in on friends at Charann’s Bar. Signing off!