The Baltimore Catechism asks “Where is God?” to which the answer is “God is everywhere.” That means that He is everywhere including those places we go to for our holidays. So God is present at Valley Fair, Wild Water West, the Black Hills, Disney World – even in Sturgis! That means that our faith – our relationship with Christ; our following of Christ – continues throughout the summer holidays.
Summer is the time when we can often find ourselves struggling to fulfill the most basic parts of our following Christ. Our yearly routine is disrupted; the many summer activities invite us to fill our schedules with all kinds of pursuits; and sometimes we find ourselves in places where we don’t know if there is a Catholic church. This is also the time when weekend tournaments are in conflict with Mass times. Those conflicts are almost like the old King Kong vs. Godzilla movies – King Kong always wins; which in the case of the tournament vs. the Mass – the tournament very frequently wins.
This brings us to the discipline of prayer which is so necessary to anyone who follows Christ. Such a discipline means that no matter where we are or what we are doing, the Sunday Mass will be part of our weekend. It is essential to our honoring God – it is the living out of the Third Commandment: Remember to keep holy the LORD’S day. The discipline of prayer means finding out the times of the local Masses and making sure that you get to Mass on Sunday or Saturday evening. Sometimes there will be a sacrifice involved, perhaps you will feel put out by that effort, but that effort will be an expression of your faith and desire to honor our Lord.
So we hope that you will have a very happy summer – one that is blessed by the presence of Christ in your lives.
In Christ,
Father King