8th Mission of Mercy Mass

Sunday January 11, 2004

Last month what would have been the 8th Mission of Mercy mass at St. Mary’s was cancelled because of snow. I was informed of its cancellation by phone but later that day I checked my email and received the formal cancellation at 12:33.

S.C.C. has been looking forward to attending this months Mission of Mercy mass at St. Mary’s especially after not having one last month. I think the biggest reason is because it has a tendency to remind you of Thursday nights at St. Joseph’s. The Mission of Mercy mass and prayer service was not designed to have anything whatsoever in common with Thursday nights but you can’t help but feel the same warmth and welcome.

Sunday morning came and again the very first thing I saw when I woke up was the clock next to the bed. The time was 7:33. S.C.C. said she and C.R.C. would meet me at her mothers house after I finished teaching CCD and they would be ready to go. I drove to "Parish Church" and arrived to teach CCD at 9:33.

After CCD I met S.C.C. and C.R.C. and we left to go to Emmitsburg. Shortly before getting as far as Warrenton my cell phone rang and it was Peter C (who is now a seminarian) and he said Ted would like to ride with us if we were going to St. Mary’s. I told Peter that we were already on the way and to tell Ted to meet us at Wal Mart in about an hour. We hung up and at that very instant I felt the sudden peace hit. I looked up and the time on the dash was 11:33.

We picked up Ted and continued our trip to Emmitsburg. Like always we stopped at St. Joseph’s first and when we arrived the odometer was 13. I glanced at my watch at the very instant I opened the door and walked in the church and it said XX:XX:33. I said a few prayers and left.

We drove to St. Mary’s for the Mission of Mercy mass and like always it was very nice. The Thursday night choir provided the music. It started at 2 PM with the rosary and was followed by mass. I was in the Communion line when that special peaceful feeling hit and I received the Eucharist from Fr. M__ at 3:33 PM.

The mass was followed by Adoration and Benediction. That was followed by a dinner down in the parish hall. S.C.C. and I wanted to leave and go visit Sister Genevieve and Jim O’Brien asked if he could go too. We said yes. We drove to the nursing home and arrived at 5:33.

We visited for a while and when we were leaving I stopped in the rest room and became locked inside. The nurse had to come and do something to the door to get me out. When I got out we drove back to Emmitsburg to drop Jim off at his house but stopped at St. Joseph’s first. We arrived at the very instant the clock on the dash switched to 6:33. I was so astounded at the days events I just walked up to the corner of the church and kissed it .

R_____ C___

Jan 18, 2004

10:13 Pm