My sister Maureen and I went to a Mass of Remembrance for all the people of St. Teresa's parish in Pittsfield who had died this year, including our dad. I rarely attend mass and I don't know when the last time I paid attention to the readings from the Bible was, because they struck me as very strange. It occurred to me, though, that I might have paid close attention to them as a kid and maybe absorbed some of their lessons.
One (Maccabees?)was about seven brothers who were tortured because they wouldn't eat pork. At one point, the fourth brother says to the torturer that he's not afraid of dying because he'll be resurrected, but "For you," he says to the torturer. "There will be no resurrection." (Take that, you bully.)
The other reading was also about seven brothers (The same ones, per chance the Maccabee family? I don't know. It was not stressed to us at Catholic school that we needed to know about all these minor Biblical characters, as I remember.) These seven brothers all married the same woman, one after another, as each brother would die off. At some point, someone asked which of the seven would be her husband in the afterlife. The answer seemed a little garbled to me, but the moral I understood to be that to God EVERYone is alive.
I felt very sad about my father not being alive anymore. If I had to say the way I feel seven months after his death, it's as if I'm being a good soldier and just going along with this but that I could call the whole thing off (his death) if I decided NOT to be a good soldier anymore. (I wonder if this is what Joan Didion means by "magical thinking.")
One of St. Teresa's enduring contributions to Pittsfield is this great shrub arrangement urging passersby to "PRAY."
Our friend Peggy Taylor on North Street in Pittsfield's once-bustling downtown. There has been talk for about 20 years that Pittsfield is coming back from a severe slump precipitated by massive layoffs at General Electric in the late 1970s-early 1980s. Peggy says -- and it looks like -- it finally really IS coming back.
Boy, I saw a lot of movies at the Capitol, owned at the time by the Goldstein family's Western Massachusetts Company which also owned Amherst Cinema.
My sister Maureen at Burger, a good hot dog, hamburger, falafel and beer place next to and owned by the same people who brought us Spice, Pittsfield's trendiest upscale restaurant. First time I've ever seen eggplant fries, which were great with the sweet potato fries.
Saturday morning I drove from Amherst to Williamstown. It was cold and sunny. A dusting of snow covered lawns along the side of Route 2.
ReplyDeleteWe went to the art museum at Williams College and watched the big football game in the afternoon. Last year, we spent Saturday night in Pittsfield. This year we drove home in time for dinner.
Sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteAt a special All Souls Day Mass in my parish, the names of people who departed within the year are announced and a bell is tolled. Loved one walk to the front of the church to light a candle carrying the deceaded person's name. It is very moving and somehow healing.
Candles were lit at my local Methodist church for loved ones.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see Peggy at mass. She told Mary and I that Dad made a point of attending this particular service every year since Mom died. That was nice to hear.
On a lighter note. Burger makes a fantastic vanilla cupcake!