Death and life in a matter of hours

Talking to one of my best friends today, it turns out his gran died last night. I knew both this grandmother and his other grandmother as his is a tight-knit family and their grandparents were always dropping in. Now both are dead, and both were not that old.
The death of the first grandmother hit my friend's oldest sister (he has three sisters, all younger) and it shook her faith. Nevertheless, I think she has come to terms with it and she still goes to church. I'm unaware as to how the death of the other grandmother has affected her. This remains to be seen but I'll probably find out tomorrow.
Although I did not know either of them particularly well, I knew them enough to notice their absence whenever I went to my friend's house. They were there THAT often. I've also not had to deal with death too often in my life. My paternal grandad died in 2000, an uncle died in 2001 and an aunt died in 2002. I would say that all of these deaths took place at a time when I was pretty much able to cope with them. I also think the fact that I didn't know any of them extremely well made it easier, unlike my friend, whose grandmothers would drop in almost every day of the week.
The phonecall with my friend was one where both condolences and congratulations were expressed, as I announced to him the birth of my second nephew last night. Both my sister and the baby are well and I'd like to ask for your prayers for them both and prayers for my friend's grandmothers.

My brother's experience of the Extraordinary Form

Today my brother and I went to the local FSSP church in Edinburgh for the Feast of the Assumption. After sitting on a bus for over an hour and doing that awkward walk which you do when you think you are late but don't want to run, we arrived at the church, walking in hurriedly and then suddenly having two booklets and two sheets handed to us.
We walked across and remained in the very back corner throughout Mass and I pointed out where we were every now and then to my brother. For me, the Mass was like a usual EF Mass, more akin to the one I went to in Germany than the one in France (the one in France was much larger, was packed and had a little more solemnity to it - more of a Cathedral feel to it). It was similar to Germany in another aspect - in Germany a non-Christian friend of mine who was interested had been coming along to church with me, both to the OF and the EF when it was on. As I knew she had no background of Christianity whatsoever, I found myself anxious in case she was totally lost and clueless to what was going on. Well, this anxiety returned a little today.
My brother seemed aloof to a lot of what was going on although when quizzed afterwards it turned out he had taken much more in than I'd thought. I then asked him what he liked and disliked.
First of all, what he wasn't so keen on:

• sometimes the chant went on for a little too long - he was thinking particularly of the "alleluiaaaaaaaaaaaa"
• he missed a hymn sometimes
• not seeing what the priest was doing (though he blames this on our position at the very back behind a pillar)
• he lost his place a lot and found it hard to follow
• the Gospel being sung
• the annoying moth (ok, this was nothing to do with the actual Mass, I know)

And secondly, what he liked:

• everyone was appropriately dressed
• nobody talking
• appropriate reverence
• lack of hand-shaking
• trained altar servers
• the organ
• no requirement to sing

I can fully understand most of his dislikes. I too found it hard to follow the Mass at the beginning, especially flicking between various books. Some other things you get used to, such as the chanting lasting a while and you then learn to take advantage of this and giving yourself time to dispose yourself properly to the situation.
Anyway, overall he seemed quite positive though he's not desperate to go back. Plus, we've got our local parish to keep alive anyway.

Mass for the Assumption in the Extraordinary Form

This Sunday, I plan to go to the local FSSP church in Edinburgh for the Assumption. I also plan on taking my brother along and it will be his first time assisting at a TLM. I'll post an update afterwards commenting on how my brother found the Mass.