It was such a delight to return from the office yesterday evening in time to see Jasmine and her cousin Rhiannon re-united, as Kath and she came to stay the weekend. The first weekend after Rachel and Jasmine arrived from Canada, they had a marvellous time playing together, and Rhiannon wept with disappointment when Jasmine went off to spend some time with her daddy. Now the house is filled with the sounds of two highly imaginative children, playing creatively.Owain came over for supper, so our three children were re-united with us and with each other, and as the little ones were busy with each other and not too late for bed, this gave us adults quality family time for each other, something we treasure when our lives are spent for the most part in other places.
I went to St German's to say Mass in honour of St Thomas Aquinas, and learned of the death of Father Alan Jenkins last weekend, the day after my friend Peter. Alan was a few years older than I, but we were contemporaries as part of the national network of University Chaplains in the early seventies, when he was priest in charge of Saint Teilo's, which was later in my care when the Rectorial Benefice of Central Cardiff still existed. He had lived with cancer over the past couple of years, and was still exercising ministry as a local priest until last summer, doing occasional duties at St German's, until the last occasion when he had to drop out of the rota because he was no longer well enough. That was shortly after he'd been told that the treatment had not been able to stop the spread of the disease. May he rest in peace
The death and funerals of two contemporaries within the same week is an insistent reminder not to take for granted the blessing of family time together. Sadness can arrive when it's least expected.
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