I am blessed with 6 beautiful children, each of whom has on occasion held more attention from the folks in the pews behind them than the celebrant.
When the eldest of these kids was scarcely two we were visiting a church where the music director was severely vision impaired. He wore glasses that made coke bottles look sleek and held the sheet music an inch and a half from his nose.
When he led the congregation in a responsorial psalm he held the music to his nose. He drew the unfamiliar words of each verse across that point of usable vision like he was feeding the paper through a typewriter. He would put the sheet aside to belt out the familiar words of the response.
Hold paper to nose – Sing a verse. Put paper down – Sing response. Repeat.
After the third repetition, my daughter took her hands away from her own face and shouted “Peek!”
She had presumed that this was a long distance version of peek-a-boo. She shouted so that he could hear her.
Half the assembly heard her. I wasn’t the only one practically falling off the pew, red with laughter. Even the priest laughed.
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