German Mass- Funny Story

My husband's brother is a priest, Fr. N. He's been visiting for about 2 weeks. With a priest staying with us, we were going to Mass daily. Unfortunately, due to the American holiday this past weekend, there was no Mass available at our parish on Friday and Monday. So we spoke to a local retired German priest we know, and he hooked us up with Mass in two German churches. Fr. N speaks German, so he was fine to con-celebrate in these parishes. The one on Friday was fine. The one on Monday the priest told us he would be celebrating his 57th anniversary since ordination, and he'd love to have us! Fifty-seven years is amazing! That's like celebrating your 57th wedding anniversary!

On Monday, I had a meeting an hour away, and had all kinds of issues coming home (Almost out of gas and struggling to find gas- my worst fear in Germany! But God provided, and provided the gas station I needed... plus staus (German word for traffic jam- everyone knows the frustration of these!) and construction.) I got home 30 minutes before Mass was suppose to start to pick everyone up. Hubby sped to the church and when we got there, there were tons of cars all over the street. I thought "Wow, this is a lot of people for a 2pm daily mass, or a lot of people are coming for Father's Anniversary Mass!" We got in, and they had a guest book to sign in. I thought that was really nice for his anniversary Mass, so my husband and I signed our name.

The church is under renovations, so they have Mass set up in the parish hall with individual chairs. We went inside, looking for 5-6 seats together. There was one row open with that many seats, and we promptly went to that row. I looked around at all the people- mostly elderly Germans- and thought wow, these people must really love daily Mass here with this many people! Then I noticed there was a picture of a man up front and thought "Oh cool, they even have a picture of Fr. P from his younger days to celebrate." Then I looked around again, and promptly realized most people were wearing black and white. I turned to my husband, with shock on my face and said "Are we at a FUNERAL Mass??" He shrugged and said "I dont know! I think maybe!" A few minutes later, my brother-in-law came out and told us it was a funeral Mass, he didn't think we wanted to stay.

So we stepped outside, and Fr. N and my husband went to talk to the priest. It was true, the Anniversary Mass had been changed to a funeral Mass, but the priest would love for Fr. N to stay. So we walked back in and retook our seats. My husband in a bright orange shirt, one of my daughters in a floral dress, and the rest of us in denim shorts with dark shirts, totally standing out against all the black pants and white and black shirts. I'm not kidding, black and white were the only colors there aside from us. All the while, we weren't understanding a single word around us. I never in a million years thought my first funeral Mass would be in German for a man I didn't know. I guess for the most part, it was just like a normal Mass like most people have told me, but I really couldn't tell if there was extra prayers or anything. In one way, aside from the fact that it was a funeral, it was hilarious. And awkward. As for the man that passed away... May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.