With the Covid-19 crisis, I think we have all had the chance to consider what is important in life and where we are going.  I trust that with our Faith, we have found the right answers.  Let us pray for those who don’t have Faith.  The story has been in the news about the wife of a diplomat in England who was driving out of her compound, and as an American, instinctively headed toward the right side of the road, but in England, they drive on the left side.  She hit and killed a young local man who was riding on his motorcycle.  Being the wife of a diplomat, she claimed diplomatic immunity and immediately fled the country to the great angst of the family and other locals who are demanding that she return to England and face charges.  The family came to the U.S. and President Trump tried to mediate the situation on their visit to the White House, where he had arranged to have the woman standing by in a nearby room.  The family did not want mediation.  The reason I am telling this story is it reminded me of all the times I have done things that were stupid or unnecessarily risky, and, by the grace of God, walked away unharmed and without doing harm.  We also commit outright sins.  With the Covid-19 crisis, I have just found this to be a good time to be quiet, recollect a bit, and make resolutions to live my life with a little more purpose and fortitude – Carpe Diem – “to seize the day”, to quote the film The Dead Poets Society, to make reparation for my sins and those of others, to use my time to improve my spiritual life and serve others, and to be thankful for God’s love and mercy and for saving me from stupid consequences.

But to seize the day does not mean we have to go out in a burst of activity.  I ask you to seize this moment and join me, in union with the other men of our Club, to lift up our minds and souls in a sense of presence and awareness to the young man and the woman who killed him.  ….   ….    We have just seized a few moments of deep contemplative prayer, which is what our Lord does in the Blessed Sacrament.  He sits there in our tabernacles lifting Himself up in presence and awareness to us as we go about our business in a busy world.

Having just given you a mini-retreat, I would like to invite you to our own annual retreat which is still scheduled for the weekend before Thanksgiving.  With the Covid-19 crisis, we do not know what rules might be in place, but I believe we might have a limit on how many can attend.  Send me your name if you want to attend.  The cost is expected to be $270 for a shared room and $350 for a private room.  I will start a list, first come – first served.

I ask you to pray for our clergy, and I am continuing my theme asking for prayers each month for two of our seminarians on the poster in the back of our church.  This month, I recommend Eric Ruiz and Rodolfo Quinteros.  See their pictures below.