Fifth Sunday in Lent

Drove the vehicle lent to us by one of the parishioners of Trinity, Yazoo City (MS) from our hotel to the church in time to arrive at 9am. Met with the rector and a handful of laity to pray together before the morning activities. The regular Sunday morning adult class convened at 9:30, during which I held forth on the Seven Habits of Well-Formed Christian Disciples. They were an attentive group. At 10:30 we celebrated the Mass for Lent V, at which it was my joy to preside, preach, and confirm five adults, as well as lay hands on four others who desired to reaffirm their commitment of Christ. After a hearty post-liturgical lunch in the parish hall, there was a fairly intense plenary session at which I fielded an array of questions, all of which served to underscore in one way or another the very reason I was there at all, serving as a special bishop visitor under DEPO. We returned to the hotel around 1:30 for some much needed down time. I had hoped to take a walk, but it rained rather steadily, and I had to settle for a nice nap instead. At 6:30, we gathered back at the church--driving through torrential rain and water-covered streets in the midst of flash flood warnings, and then caravaned to a Mexican restaurant (fortuitously, in the part of town at rather higher elevation than the old city center), where we dined a conversed with the Woodliffs and two other priests of the diocese who are part of the same tradition-minded minority that Trinity represents. I find that I take a special delight in being around southerners. Not sure why that is.