Just for the record — and because I’m sure you’re all expecting me to say this — this is NOT Florida weather! 🙂
I woke up this morning and peeked behind my curtains. I thought to myself, “Hmmm. Looks like we missed the storm.” Then, I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and, twenty minutes later, opened the door to go and open the church. It was snowing like crazy, my employees were plowing and not getting anywhere, and I thought, well, you don’t want to know what I thought.
After several hours of plowing, around 2:30 p.m., the crew knocked off for a while. The property looked something like this:
This was after several hours of plowing and salting. We’re hoping things hold off until after the evening Mass. However, we hear that “round two” is coming tonight as we are under a winter weather advisory for 3-4, if not more, inches of snow as well as blowing conditions. It’s going to make the place a madhouse tomorrow as people try to come for Mass. It will also mean that a lot of people will stay home.
Hmmmm . . . let’s talk about that a second, folks. If the weather is really bad and the roads are bad as well, if the police or other local authorities advise against driving, please hear this loud and clear: you do not have an obligation to go to Mass. That’s right. The Church has never held her people to the impossible. The same holds true if you’re on vacation and there’s not a Catholic Church in sight or if you’re sick or hospitalized.
Now, let’s consider something else about this weather thing. If the weather is so bad that you cannot get to Mass, it should also be so bad that you cannot get to the store, the theater, the bar, et cetera. If you can make your way to those places, then you are under obligation to go to Mass as well. Don’t try to pull the wool over God’s eyes. He has x-ray vision. But, if the weather is really bad and the roads are dangerous, stay home. God doesn’t give gold stars to people who kill themselves attempting to get to Church. If anything, I imagine God would lecture someone for half an eternity about dumb choices.
Aside from the weather, I had a pretty easy day. By the time the 8:30 a.m. Mass began, I had finished going through the emails that accumulated over vacation as well as the mail and voice messages. After Mass, I talked to a local funeral director and arranged a funeral for Wednesday. All in all, it was a productive day.
And now I’m ready for an even more productive night: sleep! g’night, all.