June 02, 2005

Good Advice from an Irish Grandmother..

...to her grandson before he travels Ireland on a donkey. From Kevin O'Hara's Last of the Donkey Pilgrims:
"Days are lengthening now, but when they grow short, you'll need to seek your byre early. Before knocking don't be afraid to say a decade of the Rosary. There's great power in prayer, and the `Hail Mary' will ease your countenance and give you the look of trust at any door."

"Amen, Grannie."

"And always do your best to attend Mass on Sunday. There's a wealth of grace in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Imagine, you'll partake the Holy Bread in churches all about the country. Do you know, I've heard Mass in sixty-two different churches during my time?"

"Sixty-two!" I was truly astonished. "You've kept track?"

"Why do you find that so strange? I read in the Irish Press how a Dubliner boasted of having a drink in all of Dublin's seven hundred forty-three pubs? Wouldn't he have been better off going to seven hundred forty-three different churches?"

"I suppose so," I conceded, though I knew which feat I was more likely to accomplish.

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