Mags
Father Richard mentioned her passing at the 11 mass in Gardiner street on Sunday last (Oct 4) but the penny didn’t drop until Ann reminded me.
Yes, of course! Mags! The wee woman always in blue. Many and many a Tuesday at 1 pm Mass, she would be there at my elbow, ready to share as a Minister of the Eucharist… and when I turned away from the ambo and returned to my seat she would nod and nudge approval: “You read well…”
In the sacristy, before Mass – and sometimes after Mass – when I took her hand and sang sotto voce ‘Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside‘ or some other piece of nostalgia she would immediately go into a dance routine that always involved a pirouette when I lifted her arm above her head…
She knew all the old favourites and was quite a mover, if not a shaker! ‘Jimmy, the sacristan, nodding quietly as he went about his usual drill. And a wry smile from Peter McVerry as he headed off to his car, dog, and apostolate of the Homeless…
Mags… Ann and I were sad at the news of her ill health… her withdrawal from ministry… Once we bumped into her just off Dorset street and she assured Ann – I couldn’t hear – that she was fighting it, had high hopes of a recovery…
Now she is in a better place, away from it all…
And I just know that when I get the tap on the shoulder, she will be waiting inside the gates to extend her hands in invitation – “Shall we dance?..” And of course I’ll say, “Yes. Thank you, Mags, my pleasure.” Although I’m a hopeless dancer and an even worse singer, but never mind, Mags will carry me:
“On the clear understanding
that our salvation is assured –
shall we dance…
shall we dance…
shall we… dance…”
I copied her photo from RIP; first time I ever saw her in anything but blue…
Sean Walsh. 5/10/2020