Dear Family,
Happy Valentine’s Day!
It took me a minute to find that heart symbol because I’m working on my home computer. A little health hiccup brought me here. Thank God it was nothing more. Thanks also to Msgr. Mike Hippee, and Father Gary as usual, for celebrating Mass.
Maybe having a little more time to think brought me to this next item that troubled me, more than a little. Last Sunday, someone was asked to go the Parish Center because the main sanctuary was full. The gentlemen (?) was heard to say to his companion, “We’re going home. Enough of this bull****.” That’s an odd way to refer to the celebration of the Eucharist. Hopefully, at least that is not what he meant.
I don’t know who he was, and I don’t ever want to know. But I felt (and feel) badly when I think of the people who work so hard to help accommodate everyone who comes. As you know we spent more than a few bucks to rig the hall for instant transmission and that same set-up also let us put the liturgy online for those who couldn’t come. Peter, the organist par excellence, lets his fingers fly across screens as well as keyboards to use the various cameras for all the right angles.
Week after week, Annie has been checking each Sunday morning to make sure all the connections are on in the hall, and Patricio makes sure the seating is spaced.
The ushers have been so good about encouraging people to use the masks, supplying masks when people forgot to bring their own. Nearly everyone cooperates with the spatial arrangements, etc. etc. etc.
For many months until it was no longer necessary, volunteers wiped down the pews with disinfectants between Masses.
By age 80, you’d think I would have learned to walk away from stuff like the ‘incident.’ Somedays I suspect the Lord is giving me longer life because there are still some things I have to learn. And maybe some of our great nonagenarians are here to teach me, not because they have something to learn, too.
So, taking advantage of a bad moment gives me a chance to thank the vast majority of you, to say nothing of the folk I just mentioned.
You have been wonderful about all the restrictions and inconveniences the COVID variants brought upon our heads.
You have heard me say, “Blessings on your heads and any other parts that need it.” I’m not sure if I’m ready to put COVID in that category, but maybe in a few years we will laugh about things like this. “This too, shall pass.”
So, that’s my unexpected lead-in to Valentine’s Day. When we were kids, we made Valentine’s cards. I know Mom and some teachers got them, but the real trick was getting enough to spread around throughout the class. God forbid you’d be known for singling out any particular girl. Your classmates wouldn’t give you peace.
Not long ago an old school mate sent me a picture of our seventh-grade class. She was kind enough to identify many of the kids.
Those were the days when 50 kids in a class was not unusual. God bless Mrs. Camastra. I may have mentioned before that she was such a good teacher that she got us to the point where she would reward us for a good day, by reading a section of Evangeline at the end of the day. That included the tough guys. Thinking about that, I went and reread Longfellow’s lengthy poem. Now I wonder how Mrs. Camastra did it.
I hope you have some happy Valentine’s memories as well. I didn’t expect to find Longfellow in mine, but the Lord offers us great surprises when we let Him. Happy Surprise!
In Jesus,
