First I must apologize for neglecting my duties yesterday. The truth is that the other day when the keeper let us stay out alone I jumped up on the birdbath and drank a little bit of the slimy water. I should have known better, the keeper had even left us a bowl of clean water on the deck. So, I have been a little under the weather. I am feeling better tonight because the keeper knows that the cure for my bad drinking habits is poached chicken. I am deliriously happy this evening after feasting on pieces of chicken breast. Alice is too.
The keeper received a phone call from friends of a former parishioner who had been very active in one of her old churches. The woman is dying, and they called the keeper to come and see her. It seems to have been a wonderful reunion. The woman is near death with lots of cancer but is in the most beautiful hospice ever. When the keeper showed up the woman had tears in her eyes, and after they said the prayers and blessings with holy water, the woman, who hadn't spoken much in the last few days, cried some more and said she was very very happy. The keeper says she is ready to die and now is just waiting. There will be a Gospel choir at her funeral, and hundreds of her friends. The keeper also said she gave her a few assignments to keep her out of mischief in heaven--like making some pointed suggestions about ecclesiastical changes needed in the church on earth. The woman seemed pleased to have some tasks for the other side. She is a real go -getter. She and the keeper hadn't seen each other for 11 years, but in the hour-long visit all the time and the disease just melted away. The woman is in her mid-sixties, but she has touched more people than three normal lifetimes could bear.
Tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi. People, not us, will process around the neighborhoods of the churches. We will let the keeper and all of her friends do that! We will wait for her to sashay right on home so we can process around the yard!
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