4th Sunday of Lent

Dear Parishioners, 

When has it happened last that your plans and/or your usual schedule in your personal life or in your work changed somewhat significantly temporarily? I know that this is a wordy and maybe grammatically incorrect question, but I want to be clear. Well, a change in our usual schedule at the St. Peter Church campus took place this past Monday morning when the short but heavy rainstorm caused the “roof-in-process” to leak in several places inside of the church, and the contractor had the refinishers start on repairing the water damage to the wood plank decking of our “cathedral” ceiling in the church, which required temporary movement of pews, installation of scaffolding, and plastic covering over the pews to catch the dust and debris that fall from overhead while the wood was being repaired. This results in a literally “unusable” church building now for an unknown period of time. Weekday Masses are now in the Lacour Center (the former convent ) and weekend Masses begin this weekend are at St. Hubert’s. These changes of location require us all to adapt, reboot, reset, and change for a while. Every Catholic bishop chooses a motto when he is appointed, and the motto of the late Archbishop Chappelle of New Orleans was “Deus Providebit,” translated “God Will Provide.” God has definitely provided for us in this situation with the verymuch-delayed church repair from Hurricane Ida in August 2021: We have the Lacour Center for weekday Masses and St. Hubert Church for the weekend Masses. We don’t have to set up chairs for Mass and take them down after; we don’t have to bring sacred vessels and vestments back and forth daily or weekly from one place to another, and set up and take down anything else while we don’t have the use of St. Peter Church. It is certainly different and takes some adjustment and getting used to, but it’s better than what I indicated before – no set up and pick up for Masses or meetings. We’re only using half of the Lacour Center’s floor space, and there is ample room for meetings if needed, and St. Hubert Hall is readily available as well. Lastly, this change took place on March 25 – the Solemnity of the Annunciation – where Mary was informed that she was chosen to be the Mother of the Messiah. Did she have to adapt, reboot, reset, and change her plans and her schedule? Didn’t Joseph her betrothed have to do the same? Yes indeed! Did they have any special powers to get through these changes? No – they had faith, hope, and love and wanted to serve God. Don’t we want to do the same? I think so, and we can, because with God, everything is possible.