deemed it my duty to wash tonight. Who am I to say no
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| Nate's Photo Journal | ||||||||||||||
| Sactristan Laundry Duty 10/09/2002 | ||||||||||||||
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| Wednesday night while I was suppose to be studying diligently for Thursday's Functions of Philosophy in Theology midterm, I was instead doing the Opus Dei, Work of God, that is Sacristan Linen Duty. As a budding theologian, I am first living out my faith, and serving my brethren but washing and ironing the altar cloths. Greg was suppose to be doing this, but as you can see from the pictures, Greg is not. It started off that he was going to do it over the weekend but then decided to return to Maine for the long weekend and I offered to pick up his slack. But Wednesday morning the Elder Sacristans with all their power and authority, and realizing they had no clean linen for Mass on Thursday, deemed it my duty to wash tonight. Who am I to say no |
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| Movie Clip #1 - The Raw Power of Steam | ||||||||||||||
| So for those who don't know what linen duty is all about it basically involves washing the cloths used during Mass. The fingertowels from the priest's handwashing, the purificators from the Chalice, and the corporals placed on the alter during the consecration of the Eucharist- which catches all bread fragments when might fall and disperse around the altar. Anyway, since these | ||||||||||||||
| come in contact with the sacred Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior, they need to be cleaned with utmost care and solemnity. First they get soaked in water for an hour to remove any particles of the Sacred Body, and disolve any of the Precious Blood which remains in them. Next the water is discarded outside on the ground, into the Earth- not down the drain. Then the linens are placed in the washer/dryer using bleach and cleaning solutions. These steps take very little time. The remaining task is ironing which takes HOURS. Never having listened to my father and taking all his hard work for granted as a spoiled ungratious child I was more than lost with the iron in my hand. Brian Van Fossen had to hold my hand through the first two corporals and a few purficators. I don't care what anyone says I didn't burn the fingertowels! But after a while I got the hang of it. After a few dozen linens my arms were getting sore and Ben stopped in to visit me. Ben is an Iron Master who irons/starches all his own shirts on a weekly basis. Unlike me, Mr. Wrinkle Free. Ben was aghast at the lack of steam the 3rd floor iron produced and having retreated into his room returned with a high end teflon model which he lent me to expedite the process. You can see Ben above showing me how to iron and a movie clip gives a brief example of the steam process Ben is so pleased with. | ||||||||||||||