Saturday Night Mixups

The poor priest, his Mass was a chaos, and he gracefully rose above all the little things. Some presenters were supposed to have the homily time, and when he finished the Gospel, he went back to the podium and asked if they were present. And they weren't. Then he sighed a little, and said, "This has been a series of mixups today." And it had been. He'd almost forgotten to send the little children off with their Shepherds, and the lector had read the wrong readings.

And I was that lector. Boy, am I embarrassed. I got a hurried call at noon to replace Ginger, and I carefully prepared -- but I took out the book for 2006. So the readings I was ready for were right there in the liturgy and I read them. Actually, when I was preparing the first one, it was Elijah and the needy widow, and I almost phoned Ginger back because the story conveys just what she and I had been discussing, that somehow the Lord provides. (The pot stays full of oil, and they continue to have bread, and the widow and her son and Elijah are fed and happy for a year by His grace.) Maybe the Holy Ghost just set me up?