Today I had 3 Zoom meetings (video conferencing with several people at once)...first with our Principal & School teachers (they’ve been having Zoom meetings with their students), then with some rectory staff people, then with some priests from the Diocese. It’s helpful to be able to see familiar faces besides hearing their voices. It was just announced that school will be closed for the rest of the year, which is not a big surprise. But again we have to wait for more news on religious services, etc.
We are taking advantage of this time to do more work in and outside of the church in preparation for when you return. First, we have much better lighting in the church itself. We added some ceiling lights on the left and right side aisles, and then replaced all the ceiling bulbs with LED lights that are a bit brighter than the ones we had before, and repaired the ones that were not working at all. All of the lights now have a nice warm glow to them which really makes a difference in the sanctuary or altar area as there was a mix of cool (white tint) and warm (yellow tint) lights there before. Hopefully it will help ease the strain of our aging eyes.
We are also taking advantage of the emptiness of the church to strip and wax the terrazzo floor which was in very bad need of being cleaned. It’s hard to do more than simply sweep and mop the floor when people are in there through- out the week so this gave us the chance to really clean it up and the difference is very noticeable. We also painted the very dated (from the 70’s) wooded walls in the vestibule.
Finally, since we’re pretty much caught up with repairs to the buildings, we are finally able to turn some attention to the landscaping (or lack thereof) outside on our grounds. It’s a big project given the size of our property but it will be nice to have some fresh scenery. We needed to remove some dead and/or diseased trees but are also adding some to replace those. The fence alongside the property line to the right when you drive in is being repaired as well. This ongoing project will give a welcoming look to you and those who visit us.
My hair was getting so long that I was beginning to look like cousin It from the Adam’s family. But my barbershop is closed, so I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to cut your own hair. I knew it would be very risky, but I also knew that few people would see me for a few weeks anyway (except in my YouTube Mass videos but I could always get away with wearing a biretta...do you know what that is?). To be honest, I’ve had worse haircuts from actual barbers! So pretty proud of myself that it doesn’t look like a blind- folded person cut my hair. And now I’ll save a couple hundred bucks every year doing it myself. So there’s another small blessing hidden in these times.
You can now quickly fill out a form on our website requesting me to light a vigil candle at one of our shrines for your intention. How important it is for us to keep prayer foremost in our minds as we continue on through this time.