I recently joined the Praying Parents at SACPS. One of our firsts is organizing a Mass for the school. Today's Ash Wednesday masses (2 masses, back-to-back) for the am and pm sessions were held today at the school's chapel. It was a marathon, but Fr Adrian Yeo managed to clear both masses under 1h each including imposition of ashes and holy communion.
The 1st mass was 11.30 to 12.30 with only half hour break to start the next mass at 1-2pm.
For me, the next first was I suddenly had to play the organ for the am mass as the parent who usually plays had taken ill. I prayed that a miracle would happen...that a am teacher would be able to play for the mass. I went down at 10am to practise after I had fetched Felicia for her librarian duty. Whilst practising, a teacher wished me all the best and not to worry as I will do well. I told her I pray not to play well, but that others think I play well.
I went to the statue of our lady in the chapel to pray for help in playing the organ and for the parent who had fallen sick. You must remember I don't have a piano at home. Bert had only just gotten a stand for the keyboard and I had only practised the songs over the CNY weekend. I have never learned to play the organ, and all 3 instruments are different in setup. I only tried the chapel's organ once, just for fun. So to be suddenly thrown to play an unknown instrument publicly infront of children, teachers and parents, it is definitely very daunting for me. Plus I don't have proper music scores. 1 for the piano, some with just right hand without guitar chords and some with guitar chords. I also was asked to play those short hymns within the mass proper by ear (i.e. without musical scores) at the very last minute. So I was highly stressed up.
Now, I shall share with you the power of prayer. The teacher who was to play for the pm session came early for the am mass. She asked if I was playing for the am, and I told her I was on standby and would play. She then asked if I was going to play for the pm as well, and I told her she could still do so. I suddenly thought, hey, why don't she play for both masses since she's agreed to play for the pm, right? She should be prepared. She was armed with the full mass order hymns. So she agreed to play the am mass when I asked her to.
As the mass went on, I realised after I had my imposition of ashes and communion that the organist did not receive any of these as she was busy playing the organ. So I asked her if she was attending her mass today. She said she was, so I told her I'll play during the imposition of ashes and the holy communion. Now the next part of the miracle of prayer....after the pm mass, the praying parents told me I had played wonderfully. I had only played 2 songs, but they were all praise. Perhaps they were just being supportive, I thought.
When Felicia came home tonight, she excitedly told me I played wonderfully. She was telling her friends, the mother in red, is her mom. She said her friends were impressed and said I played very well. Why, I asked her? It's because there was a comparison made between the other player and me. I just sounded better because I played the music with more upbeat rhythm whereas the teacher was also a pianist, like me, but played according to the score. I had learnt a little from my organist friend from observing her, so I just put it to practice. So you see, God answered both my prayers....someone played for me in the am mass, and when I played, it's not so much that I played well, but people perceive it to be so because of a comparison being made. Isn't that a miracle?
Love Theresa
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