When my son, Father Patrick, was home for a week during the Christmastide he had not arranged to obtain what are called faculties so that he would be able to offer the Holy Sacrifice publicly in the parish, but of course he offered Holy Masses at home each day. Some of those were offered for deceased loved ones of members on the forum. It seems Father Patrick is always "prepared". Yesterday, he sent a text expressing sorrow that one of the elderly priests in their community had passed away overnight in his sleep. So before the folks from the funeral home had arrived to transfer the body of the deceased, Fr. Patrick had taken a Mass kit upstairs and celebrated a requiem Holy Mass for his brother priest at bedside! That's my son, quick on the draw!
How wonderful to be a priest and to be able to celebrate Mass anywhere anytime at the drop of a hat. What a gift. In a way to be a Church on two legs moving. On the other hand I suppose the price tag on this is to be like Father Abraham and to move and live with Faith. A priest needs to have a really , really living Faith much more than say the typical lay person. I read a story of an Irish priest in England who used to say Mass every morning for several years and only one old lady ever showed up for mass. Then the old lady died and when the priest said mass he was looking at an empty Church every day. He gave up and went home. So sad. How hard for that poor priest to maintain his Faith. Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote about having a little private Chapel in his appartment. What a gift! I suppose the nearest we lay people get to this is have a special prayer or holy place in our homes. Reading the life of Mary and the other Saints back then Our Blessed Mother does seem to have had a special prayer place. Jesus I think refers to this I think when he advises is when we pray to go into our rooms to be alone to pray. At her little house at Ephesus Mary had her own little stations of the Cross built in her garden outside. How good Father Patrick is to offer up Mass for our dead. Padre Pio used to day that more dead used to visit him than the living.
