Marian Centre Mass
Terry and I had the honour and pleasure of being asked back for the first Open Mass (where anyone can attend once a month) since Covid closed down the Marian Centre.
It felt like home to be among the faithful here in their holy space where they decided to celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas a couple of days early. ( The actual feast day is December 6th)
Who is St. Nicholas? Well he was a lot like Santa ( which means “Saint”).
He's also called Nicholas the Wonderworker. He was born in Turkey, and he died in Turkey, but he was Greek. Among many other things, St Nicholas is the patron saint of children, sailors, merchants and brewers. The whole tradition of Christmas presents came from St Nicholas' habit of giving gifts to the poor and sick in secret. And many miracles have been attributed to him since his death. Thus: “The Wonderworker” title.
After mass we descended into the basement where you could hear “donkey bells” and see many donkeys around the room. The humble donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem with Joseph and the story goes that as you hear the bells (from around the donkey’s neck) as they get louder and louder, then Christmas is coming closer and closer. Many of the Madonna House members add a bell to their bracelets every day.
I also love the large mural down there called “Jesus in the Breadline”. This is poignant as the Madonna House is known for feeding and clothing the marginalized.
Hugo once again had his amazing, large Creche set up which expands every year for his homemade miniature land through which Jesus and Mary travel to the stable. There are sounds and many moving parts like ‘fire’ and a water wheel, etc.
Our Madonna House friends put on a huge breakfast for everyone which included coffees, teas, juice, savoury, homemade breads, and sweets. Soon it was time for “St. Nicholas” himself to appear!
Before mass we were asked to sign our name onto a St. Nicholas card that the Marian Centre people drew and coloured. When “St. Nicholas” arrived he asked us to choose a card out of his basket and the name on the back of the card we chose would be whom we would pray for this year. You can see my card and I’ll be praying for little ‘Giorgio” who is the smaller of the 2 boys in my photo.
Terry and I enjoyed our conversations but we didn’t eat because we wanted to go out for breakfast at The Commodore downtown. It was a lovely morning all around and another lovely step closer to Christmas!