A GIFT

So I was at the new bar last night (The Sump), and one of the patrons called me over.

"Hey, I have this old book on the Virgin Mary, it's just laying around, can I give it to you?"

I'm not much of a BVM devotee, but I always find old books interesting; so I said, "Sure, if you're positive you want to give it away."

He came by this morning on his way to work to drop it off.

This thing is . . . amazing. I think -- no -- I KNOW -- my old friend Jeff would be drooling. (Who, btw, received his own gift just recently -- go check it out).

It's an all-in-one two volume work consisting of:

"LIFE of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, Mother of God; with the HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO HER. Completed by the Traditions of the East, the Writings of the Fathers, and the Private History of the Jews."

and

"The HISTORY of the LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, From His Incarnation Until His Ascension, Denoting and Incorporating The Words of the Sacred Text from the Vulgate. Also, The History of THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, Connected, Explained, and Blended with Reflections.

All I can say is . . . Wow. This this is amazing. It's big (think KJV pulpit sized big); a carved leather cover; gold-embossed decorative pages; two latches; probably about 20 lbs.

I went digging around the 'net looking for some pictures, and found this. It really is a wonderful gift. And who says priests shouldn't go bar hopping?

Merry Christmas to me.