Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: February 04, 2018
Every now and then we all mess up and make mistakes. We spill coffee on the carpet, we forget about what’s in the oven until we smell smoke, we lose keys, we forget the birthday of a special someone, that sort of thing. We also can – and too often do – commit sin. We deliberately say something ugly and false, we linger too long with a stray thought or feeling, we decide that nobody else in the office is going to miss something, we purposely say no to God or goodness. Mistakes, in many ways, are the hallmarks of being human.
But what to do about them? While all sins need to be admitted in sorrow to God (and serious – mortal – ones mentioned in confession) so that we can be forgiven, other mistakes usually stay hidden. Others don’t have to know that I ripped my brand-new jacket, after all, because it’s of no concern to them. The tiny new dent in the car’s back bumper can’t be helped, now. That houseplant we killed won’t grow back.
But every now and then a big boo-boo needs to be admitted, even publicly. Like the huge one we made about a month ago here in the Parish Office. Last year we canceled the Saturday vigil Mass for the three straight weeks before Lent due to Carnival parades downtown. So after checking the internet we took those three Masses off of this year’s books, mentioned it here in The Carpenter, and announced it in church. All very well and good, except we never looked again to see if there had been any changes, to see specifically if there still was a Carnival parade last Saturday! And there wasn’t! And so in the end I cancelled Mass for no good reason at all, no doubt to the great disappointment of our usual Saturday Mass-goers. I’m so very sorry for that! Even with all of the distractions around here, it’s embarrassing to admit that big an error. Please forgive me for it!
Even though there should have been one last week, there definitely will be no Saturday Mass on February 3 and 10. But we’ve doublechecked the parade schedules, and this time we know what we’re talking about!
This week will be the first full week of work for Mrs. Lorie Weeks and Mrs. Deana Stevens, our new staff members here at the Cathedral. I hope you get a chance to meet them soon. Please overwhelm them only with kindness, though, for getting used to our activities and setup, as well as bookkeeping procedures and bills, will be enough of a task for the both of them for a while!
Why not give some thought to planning for Lent already? Maybe the “same old, same old” penance will work again for you. Or maybe you need to try something new! Perhaps instead of “giving-up” something, what’s really needed is an “add-on,” an expanded generosity of money or time. In any case, our Ordinary Time is getting short: we soon need to be ready for the discipline of Lent!
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Fr. Paul
