Sad video :-(

Just today I happened to come across a video of a priest's ordination at my parish church. The ordination took place twenty years ago this year. This means that I was less than one year old, and also living doon sooth at the time, but I do remember much of the layout as the church was then. The tabernacle was in the corner of the sanctuary, as I remember it was when I first started serving on the altar when I was about seven or eight. I remember the large cross behind the altar which has now been moved to upstairs, to the Venerable Margaret Sinclair Chapel as it is now known as. Back then it was just the choir loft. And this takes me nicely to the next point. The music. All which is moderately terrible was played at this mass and was accompanied with guitar, flute and tambourine. Now, these things I can cope with, but what really dismayed me was at the canon - first of all, the celebrant bishop asked all to stand during the eucharistic prayer. Why? Why? Everyone had already knelt during the litany, so why couldn't they kneel at the moment of sacrifice? I don't know...
Secondly, the vessels used were not "of a noble material" and gilt on the interior. They were just ceramic bowls. This causes me to make a big sad face :-( and makes my heart sink. It also explains a few things about a certain letter I sent just over a year ago...

Now all this makes me realise how different things are already. Much of this is due to the most recent parish priest, who retired in June this year after ten years at the parish, so he is very much the priest I remember. Unfortunately, for many his personality was too much and they left to other parishes. Despite this, the changes he made were generally good. He moved the tabernacle from the corner to behind the altar. He moved the Saint Margaret statue from a corner of the porch to inside the body of the church and made it stand out a bit more. He made the sanctuary more noble looking, though he wished he had made more changes (i.e. rip out what remained of the 1970s wreckovations). He also converted the choir loft into the chapel I mentioned above and installed two more stained glass windows there. Most recently he placed a large vessel with holy water in it for people to take some home for them. Unfortunately, many people had left already before these changes were made and so they never got the benefit of them.

Lastly, the ordination video made me think again about the question of vocation. Now, I know I will not be a priest and the reasons are numerous. One of the main ones is that I am far too proud a person and I'm a gloryseeker - not exactly good qualities. Yet, I still have "dreams" or "fantasies" about being one and this video made me think about this further. If God had made things slightly different for me, perhaps I would have become a priest. But it doesn't do to dwell in the realm of fantasy and of ifs and maybes. So I just thank God for what He has called me to do and I just trust in His plans.

One last word about the video - what was abundantly clear was that if a person living only seventy years ago were to watch this video then, they wouldn't recognise a thing...