St. Nicholas’s Church, Carrick on Suir.
Our annual Mass of the Nations was its usual prayerful, dignified and cross-national success. Readings in English, Polish and Irish; prayers in Mandarin, Swahili, Igbo, Kirundi and English; Eucharistic Prayer in Polish, French and English; seasonal hymns a plenty from the Suir Valley Choir; three wise ‘people’ bearing gifts of gold (not exactly!) frankincense(floating to the ceiling) and myrrh (not exactly either!); a United Nations of prayer readers; a swirl of native African dress, a bemused Chinese boy, and two candle bearers gone astray in a flurry of flags; two presiders, our parish priest Canon Cullinan and the diocesan Polish Chaplain, Fr. Emile Adler, immaculate in cloth of gold vestments.
A special word of thanks to the youth liturgy group – this is their seventh Mass of the Nations – for giving up their holiday time to lead the parishioners in prayer with such dignity and seriousness; and, oh, yes, to the few bemused bystanders who were press-ganged into service at the last minute.
Afterwards, all were invited to a feast of tea, coffee and nibbles. Not exactly on a par with the sumptuous offerings of the Wise Men, but enjoyed by all nevertheless.
