A Snowy Sunday
Shortly after waking up this morning, before I could even jump into the shower, the phone was ringing. It was the gentleman who plows the parking lot at the one church that is part of this parish (we have two churches, a.k.a. “worship sites,” and this was the one that we priest do not live at). He said to me that we should just cancel the Masses for this morning because of the snowstorm we were still in. I guess that at that time 5 inches of snow had fallen, but the real issue was the 30-40 mph winds which were creating “white-out” conditions.
While certainly sharing in his concern for the safety of our parishioners, there are several practical problems with canceling Masses. Setting aside the fact that we have taken stipends for the Masses, so we have to offer the Mass for the intentions, at least sometime (I believe Canon law say within 1 year of taking the stipend), just how do we let people know that we were going to cancel the Masses? This is a parish of over 3000 families, and there are many others who are not registered in the parish who still come here each week for Mass. We do not have a phone-tree for calling them. Of course there are always some people, who no matter how bad the weather, will come to church on Sunday. If they come and the priest is not there, they can get very upset, saying, “well, we made it to church Father, why couldn’t you make it?”
So, this morning I bundled myself up, and the deacon who was assigned to assist me came and picked me up at 7:30 a.m. to head over to St. Anthony’s (the deacon has a 4×4, besides why should there be two knuckleheads on the roads?). The roads were bad, and visibility was maybe 20 feet, but we arrived safely. The plows were making a valiant effort, but not making much progress. The sexton, who lives next door to the church, was there. We had 7 people (excluding the sexton, deacon, and myself) at the 8 a.m. Mass. The people seemed surprised that I preached (see homily below) but they were there, and you really are suppose to give a homily on Sundays. After Mass I had over an hour to kill before the next Mass, so I talked to one of the gentlemen who made it in for Mass. Both the deacon and I thought that the 10 a.m. Mass would be better attended, we both thought 20-25. We were wrong; again only 7 people came.
Now, God bless those souls who came to Mass in such bad weather. It truly is a testament to their Faith and commitment to the Church. I have on more than one occasion spoken about the importance of Sunday Mass, of making God our top priority, and scheduling things around Mass, and not just fitting Mass in when it is convenient for us (around cheerleading, soccer, football, shopping). However, we need to keep in mind the need to be reasonable. Of course the sequel will be next week during Confessions when a large number of people will confess about missing Mass. Again, this is a testament of their Faith, and the value they place on the Mass. I will compliment them on this faith, but remind them that if they could not make it to Mass, for a serious reason (and a blizzard qualifies as one), then it is not sinful to miss Mass. However, they can and should still keep holy the Sabbath, by spending time with Scripture and praying.
