Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: August 30, 2020
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
As I sit to write this column for The Carpenter, it’s Sunday afternoon and we’re still anticipating being hit by the double-whammy: two hurricanes, Marco and Laura, are bearing down on the Louisiana coast. You may get this issue via email before the second one hits, but already we should all be praying with extra fervor, that the destruction of these storms not “hit us” too hard.
Because of the impending storms, last week many newspapers, media outlets and internet sites were quite properly focusing on “Emergency Preparedness.” I suspect many of us checked our supplies, made our lists, and then went from grocery to hardware store making sure we would have on hand things we might need. There’s not a lot an individual can do when the electricity goes off but grab a flashlight – and that’s not the moment to discover that its batteries are dead!
Yes, preparing for foreseen emergencies is one thing that a lifetime in Louisiana has taught us to do. Most of us probably do it pretty well, in fact. When you stop to think about it, preparing for foreseen emergencies actually isn’t that hard: we know difficulties are approaching and so we can be ready for it.
Yet there’s another kind of disaster, too – the unexpected emergency. Remember the “great flood of 2016” which caught us all off guard because the rain seemingly came out of nowhere? Things break when we least expect. Any automobile accident is always unexpected, and so are most medical crises. As the current pandemic shows, not every emergency comes and goes swiftly, either: the coronavirus crisis shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon.
Yet most of us do a pretty good job of preparing for unforeseen difficulties, too. We keep jumper cables in the trunk of the car, we always have “ready to eat” boxed and canned goods when we discover the refrigerator broke yesterday, we make sure the medicine cabinet has bandages and pain-relievers that we hope we won’t need. We have an old metal toolbox of screwdrivers, wrenches and hammers even though it might be rusted shut! Some of us even have “emergency kits” of insurance-coverage, bank account, and credit-card information, along with needed passwords nowadays, tucked away in plastic bags – with a photocopy of both driver’s license and passport! Now don’t panic: just because some of us are obsessive-compulsive doesn’t mean all of us have to be! But still, there’s nothing wrong with taking some time to consider all of the unwelcome problems that just might come our way – since some of them are inevitable!
You’ve probably already guessed where I’m going with this. Some of the things we ought to plan and prepare for are difficulties of a spiritual sort. How do you plan for sin? (Hint: maybe know when confessions are heard at church!) How do you plan for death? (Hint: definitely, pray a morning offering every morning and an act of contrition every night before bedtime!) How do you handle disappointments caused by other people and even tragedy in life? (Hint: meditating on Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection helps!) How do you start to become more generous? (Hint: open your wallet today and give the biggest bill in it to church or charity! – It’s not going to be more than $100, I promise!) How do you start getting more out of Mass? (Hint: read the readings beforehand – see page 5 of The Carpenter this week – and see if you can guess what the homily will be about!) How do you pray more? (Hint: grab your Bible, rosary or prayerbook before you check the computer in the morning!)
Okay, I’ll stop now. You get the idea. If we put a similar amount of effort into spiritual priorities as we do when preparing for foreseen and even unforeseen problems, a significant amount of religious uneasiness in our lives will start to vanish, and quickly. I’m doing my best to pray all of y’all into heaven along with me, but I hope that you’re doing your part, too!!
Yours in Christ Jesus, in good times and bad,
Fr. Paul Counce
