Well, that was an adventure, wasn’t it? “Snowzilla,” or whatever it is being called,
certainly did cast the deciding vote in how most people spent their weekend,
and for many of us, much of the following week. In our highly mobile
society, it comes as a shock to be immobilized.
Suddenly, our horizons are narrowed, our range is curtailed, and our
options are few.
It is a matter of professional pride for me to say that not
one Mass was missed, not one announced period of confessions went without a
confessor. Of course, that is not such a
great achievement, since we priests live right next to the church, and could
have made it over there even if we had not had a crew clearing the snow throughout
the storm – which, thank heaven, we did.
Not everybody had that option. People who needed to be at work went early,
and stayed there throughout the weekend.
After that it was nearly impossible to go anywhere other than where you
already were. Even days later, now that
people are managing to get out, it is not a sure thing that you can reach your
destination, whether by foot, car, bus, or train, or park or enter once you get
there.
On the whole, I have been warm, comfortable, and well
fed. We never lost power, nor
communications with the whole outside world.
There has been no shortage of activity for me during this time; I’ve kept
busy keeping the church up and running, tended to things around the property,
cooked for the denizens of the rectory, and even did some shoveling. So I have not been bored; quite the
opposite. Now, here I am, still where I
have been the whole time, and I admit that I am getting a little bit stir
crazy.
Why? What is the
source of my restlessness? What need or
craving would be satisfied by being out and about? If I could go, where would I go, and for what
purpose? It is hard to say, but I think
whatever it is, it lies at the root of what most of us recognize in ourselves
now as cabin-fever, or being stir-crazy.
We do want
to go somewhere; we do want to
be somewhere else – almost always, wherever we are. It is one of the clues that we are not yet
where we need to be, no matter how much we make ourselves at home.
I think Saint Augustine identified the real motive behind
our constant yearning, persistent searching, and insatiable desires, and said
it best: God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till
they find their rest in you.
So may this little episode of weather weirdness, enforced
confinement, reduced mobility, and narrowed horizons, allow you to enjoy the
snowbound silence and reflect on the yearning within you. Recognize it for what it is: the yearning to
be with Him Whose yearning brought you into being, and Who yearns to have you
with Him forever. The satisfaction of
both those yearnings is the adventure of every lifetime.
Monsignor Smith
