The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It is all in the translation: A new young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. The new monk goes to the Abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made a mistake, even a small error it would never be picked up in subsequent copies. The Abbot says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point." So, the Abbot goes down into the dark caves beneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are locked in a vault that hasn't been opened for centuries. Hours go by and nobody has seen the old Abbot. The young monk gets concerned and goes down into the caves to look for him. There, the monk finds the Abbot, banging his head against the wall and sobbing uncontrollably. His head is all bloody and bruised. The young monk rushes over to the old Abbot, exclaiming "What is wrong Father?" With a choking voice the Abbot replies, "The word is celebrate!" Here is a letter of a confused mother writing to her son: Dear son, Just a few lines to let you know that I'm still alive. I'm writing this letter slowly because I know you cannot read fast. You won't know the house when you come home Ñ we've moved. About your father, he has a lovely new job. He has 500 men under him. He is cutting the grass at the cemetery. There was a washing machine in the new house when we moved in, but it isn't working very good. Last week I put 14 shirts into it, pulled the chain and I haven't seen the shirts since. Your sister Mary, had a baby this morning. I haven't found out whether it is a boy or girl, so I don't know whether you are an uncle or an aunt. Your uncle Dick drowned last week in a vat of whiskey in the Dublin Brewery. Some of his workmates dived in to save him, but he fought them off bravely. We cremated his body and it took three days to put the fire out. Your father didn't have much to drink this Christmas, I put a bottle of castor oil in his pint of beer Ñ it kept him going till New Years Day. I went to the doctor on Thursday and your father came with me. The doctor put a small tube into my mouth and told me to keep it shut for 10 minutes. Your father offered to buy it from him. It only rained twice last week. First for three days and then for four days. Monday was so windy that one of our chickens laid the same egg four times. We had a letter yesterday from the undertaker. He said if the last installment wasn't paid on your grandmother within five days, up she comes. Much love, Mother PS: I was going to send you 10 dollars, but I had already sealed the envelope! Have a great weekend with lots of laughs!4/6/04
