Birthday Suspicions

I went for morning Mass today, being my birthday and all, to give thanks to the Almighty for my continued existence and for all the abundant blessings received. I had almost wanted to sleep in late and celebrate Mass on my own later as I have no classes in the morning. Anyway, it is a practice for the community here to mention those who have birthdays or anniversaries of their sacerdotal ordinations at the intercessions during Lauds (morning prayer) that is incorporated with the Mass.

Well, my name was mentioned as 'Ong, Aloysius', having a birthday today, in the usual manner. However, it was only during breakfast later when another fellow priest came to wish me Happy Birthday that some more other priests realised and came over to greet me too. One even asked if an intercession was made during Mass because he did not hear it.

So, this confirmed my following suspicions:
a. Most of us (sometimes, myself included) tend to sleep through the Mass, especially the morning ones.
b. Many of us (again, myself) have not known many of our fellow priests despite living under the same roof for some time (with about 200 of us, it really is quite a challenge to know all well enough).
c. The intercession made can be too garbled to be understood (it happens sometimes as the acoustics in the chapel is horrible).
d. The Italian language is still very foreign for many of us (it would be, if you are forced to undergo it under duress of sorts).

God bless you all and have a nice day ahead! :-D

(pic from humancalendar dot com)