Mass on Vacation - Loving the Sacramental Life of the Church
My immediate family has not had the opportunity to go on vacation together since I began college, 11 years ago, So this past Christmas my family decided that wanted to try to go on vacation this year together. Can you imagine trying to coordinate the schedules of a swim coach, teacher, physician assistant, navy pilot, and a priest? Well, we were able to find a window for a trip this weekend when we were all available, so I am on vacation with my family.
While he was on vacation in 2012, Pope Emeritus Benedict XIV shared these sentiments: God created us; he is written in our hearts. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, so if we rest, we should really rest in Him. He said vacations can be used to renew relationships with family and God, taking time off from our hectic lives to do so. “I would like to recommend that during this time of vacation, you revivify your spirits by contemplating the splendors of Creation,” he said. “…Let us remember that the divine reality is hidden in our daily lives like the seed in the soil.”
Taking this into account, and knowing that my family would need to get to mass on Sunday and this past Thursday for the Holy Day, I started putting some plans together. I could take my own traveling mass kit and celebrate at the kitchen table of the Airbnb that we are staying at, but since we are staying on an island that has a church on it I would rather celebrate at the Church. I called the parish and offered to cover their Sunday and Holy Day masses so that their priest could save himself a couple of ferry rides. So even though I am not with you, my parishioners, this weekend know of my prayers for you.
Also when you go on vacation let me encourage you to include God, so that As Pope Emeritus Benedict XIV says “out true rest can be found in Him.”
-Fr. Michael