Sláinte - an Irish toast to your health & a memory of my wedding on this St. Patrick's Day. @oldstpats

Today is St. Patrick's Day and it will not be the typical one for me or my family.  There will be no parade, no Irish Bar, no church services, no restaurant meal of corned beef, and honestly, there doesn't seem like there is much to celebrate.  People are suffering, scared, unsure how they are going to pay the bills and they are worried for their health and for those they love. 

I am 100% Irish, with four grandparents being born in Ireland.  My paternal grandfather William Heneghan was from Tourmakeady, County Mayo, and my grandmother Nora Duffy was baptized at the Ballintubber Abbey just down the road.  They both left Ireland at a young age (15 & 17) because of hard times, emigrating to America and winding up in Chicago where they married and had four children.  My maternal grandparents Maurice O'Regan and Catherine Ryan had similar stories except they were from Limerick and Cork, and they met in Chicago after they left Ireland looking for a better life, and they also had four children.

When Kristin and I were married back in 1996, in the oldest public building and oldest church in the City of Chicago - Old St. Patrick's Church.  None of my grandparents were alive to attend my wedding, but they would have loved it.  The priest was the beloved Father John Cusick, who is about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination and he still feeds my soul with his wisdom and guidance.  There was a five or six string ensemble and our soloist Ms. Catherine O'Connell sang like an angel.  At the end of the ceremony, there were bagpipes, and at the reception, there were Irish dancers.  Of course, the party was epic.

Our wedding was not only a celebration of our love and future together. It was a joining of families and a milestone in our lives that needed to be acknowledged and honored.  It was a celebration that her parents were able to walk her down the aisle after being in a horrific traffic accident several months earlier.  It was a memorial for her grandmother Bubby who died in that accident.  The Irish traditions we placed in that ceremony were not only for us but for those that came before us, to honor our parents who set the examples for us, but also for William & Nora as well Maurice & Catherine.

On our wedding day, Kristin & I dedicated the song, "How Bright is the Day" to our Grandparents and at 1 pm I will be live streaming the Mass from Old St. Patrick's Church where Catherine will once again be singing.

My grandparents didn't have easy lives, yet among the toils and suffering of everyday life, they lived and they loved.   We too need to live and to love, to drive out our fear and reduce the suffering not only for ourselves but for all those that cross our path.

Sláinte - an Irish toast to your health.