"On Serving Solemn Pontifical Vespers for the Holy Father"

Catholic blog Fish in a Barrell offers a remarkable account of meeting the Pope, serving as his vimp, and then receiving a lecture on the importance of serving the liturgy from Msgr. Marini:

I can’t say whether or not people were expectingthe Holy Father to greet us one by one, but I can say with certainty that we had a plan A and a plan B, consisting of left-knee genuflection and damn-near profound bowing, respectively. And so, the elevator opened, out steps Monsignor Rossi and the Monsignori from the Holy See, and all of a sudden we see this kindly-looking old man arrayed in various vesture of brilliant white, his countenance one telling of such deep-seated joy in Christ and love of His Church, such that not even the most gifted artist could capture it. He started making his way greeting each of us, with Monsignor Rossi introducing us. By the time it was perfectly clear that the only way the Holy Father could get to the guy after me was to stop at me, Monsignor Rossi introduces me (more or less): JP Mikolajczyk, he designed the altar for the Mass tomorrow. HOLY SMOKES!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! His Holiness in reply, Ah, zhank you.

There’s really no tactful way to say “you’re welcome” to that, so my existing smile was appropriate, I hope.