Tomorrow at 10:30 AM Eastern Time, Carlo Acutis will be beatified in Assisi, Italy.  You can view the beatification on EWTN.  Carlo was born on May 3, 1991 and died from leukemia at age 15 on October 12, 2006.  The National Catholic Register has an article:  17 Things Every Catholic Should Know About Carlo Acutis.  Catholic News Agency has Who was Carlo Acutis?  A CNA Explainer.  Above is a Vaticano video about him.  This millennial, teenage computer gamer and programmer had a great devotion to the Eucharist.  Find out more about him as a way to see how God is calling us to holiness even today.

     We had poor quality for the Rosary Altar Society Meeting on Wednesday and the beginning of the rosary this morning.  Tom and I had removed what I thought might be the problem.  So, I'm not sure why there was buffering this morning.  I wonder if YouTube is having difficulty keeping up with all the traffic.

     Thanks for all your prayers.  Yesterday, I offered this half marathon for our parish and our nation.  I felt pretty good through ten miles and achieved personal records at 15K (1:19:56) and ten miles (1:26:00 at 8:36 per mile).  But then I started to get progressively more and more tired.  I ended up with my second fastest half marathon (1:58:01 at 9:00 per mile).  Currently, I'm in 7th place among 43 runners who have posted their results here.  Of the 122 registered runners, I'm in the oldest third.

     Already, I have received great advice on how to deal with being thoroughly exhausted by the last mile:  gels for runners to replenish needed nutrients.  This and other strategies will help me run faster.  Yet, I'm also aware that I'm aging.  I now have enough data from running for three years to show that I'm getting slower as I get older.  To achieve new personal records, I have to become more knowledgeable and wiser.  But isn't that how we can do more as we get older?  Our younger selves have more energy and raw ability, but the wisdom of old age more than makes up for our losses.  Even more important is the grace of God.  If He wants us to do something and we cooperate, He'll give us the grace to do it.

     As COVID cases spike, we need to continue to be prudent and persevere in wearing our masks and staying six feet apart.  We'll also continue to take steps to keep people fairly safe as we make Mass and the sacraments available.  I continue to observe how parishioners navigate in church.  Based on those observations, we've made another addition to available spots.  Since we don't have people walking up for Holy Communion in the parish hall, we don't need an aisle by the windows.  So, we've added seven more chairs to the parish hall, going from 28 to 35.

Formed.org 

God love you,

Fr. Jim