As I am writing this reflection for this Sunday’s bulletin, I am thinking of how rather than working these next two weeks, I had plans to hike on the California Mission Trail. However, like many of us, my plans had to be put on hold, and I continue to be in the midst of all my work here at St Jude and at the chancery office of the Diocese downtown. I am hoping to take a few days off in the next couple of weeks to hike locally, but it will not be be the same as being out in California.
Here we are in August. This weekend, we are having our blessing of the backpacks and the pins we give our children and youth for their backpacks to kick off the beginning of a new school year. Yes, I did the blessing of the pins virtually on Facebook Live, not as a part of the big pancake breakfast that we normally have this time of year. We don’t know how the school year is going to unfold or how our lives are going to unfold in the next few months. I was supposed to attend the International Catholic Stewardship Conference in Anaheim, California the end of September, but now it is going to be streamed over the internet. I did not think I would be able to attend the Diocesan Finance Management Conference in Denver in mid-September, but now that it is virtual, I am able to watch the presentations on the internet. We were not able to have our annual priests retreat this year in April, so that retreat will be virtual later in October. We are having to adapt to this new reality even in the ways we live out our faith.
Who would have thought we would be having drive-in masses each weekend? But they are creative and they are working in this new reality, aren’t they? If you haven’t come to our drive-in masses, we encourage you to give it a try. This will be our new reality for a while. Know that our St Jude staff and I are working very hard to keep us safe and to help us live out our faith. We have our protocols and sanitizing procedures in place. Our safety is very important to us.
We ourselves at St Jude are working on our plans for religious education and faith formation for children, youth, and adults. We will be communicating these to you soon. As I mentioned, being creative, keeping ourselves and everyone else safe, and adapting to our current reality is important and a priority. Blessings to all you. Father Lincoln.
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