The Deacon's Bench
Tuesday, my wife and I marked our 25th wedding anniversary with a special mass in Orlando, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Queen of the Universe. (A big hat tip to my friend, blog reader, and hard-working Disney employee Fernando Martinez, who made it all possible — and provided cupcakes after! His son, Fernando Jr., served as roving photographer.)
The celebrant for this little liturgy — those in attendance, including my wife and me, numbered six — was Fr. Hector, a great priest and a great guy; I’d been privileged to attend his first mass three years ago, and he was only too happy to help us out.
There was only one problem: that morning, when he went searching the rectory for a ritual book containing the blessing he wanted to use at the end of mass, it was no where to be found. Somebody else had taken it. The solution? It turned out that Fr. Hector had the prayers downloaded on his iPhone. So at the end of mass, he got Fernando to hold the phone, while he read the blessing.
My wife and I are cracking up because we can’t believe the priest is actually doing a blessing from his cell phone. As Samuel F.B. Morse famously put it (quoting scripture): “What hath God wrought?”
Twenty five years into our marriage, we often find ourselves asking the same question — in wonder, and awe, and gratitude.
I love the above picture, by the way, which features Jesus in the background, but always near, imparting a blessing.
Meantime, Fr. Hector has his own blog, in Spanish. Check it out.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In