On Sunday San Francisco saw some spectacular weather. It all began around 3am with pounding rain and thunderous lightning strikes. The rain posed interesting complications to our sixteen Sunday outdoor Masses: how could we offer divine service under a heavens that had opened its floodgates? We limited the first two morning Masses to those altars we could move under canopies, but would anyone come?
People did come. Some brought umbrellas, and some just stood in the rain with smiles on their faces. Mr. Weatherman promised the skies would clear by 9am, but he was wrong. By 11:30am, however, it did seem the clouds had mostly parted, just in time for our four Latin Masses. So we powered up to our full four altars, two of which were under the open sky. But just around the consecration, thunderous clouds moved over us and again opened up. The two priests at open altars tried their best to cover the sacred species with their ample vestments, but some hosts did get a bit soggy. The priests did not run for cover, but stood at their posts, seeing the Mass through to the final blessing.
What about the people? They stood in the rain, smiles on their faces. One of them told me the next day, “Father, that was the best Mass I’ve attended! The Eucharist has become so real, now that we too are making sacrifices to attend Christ’s sacrifice.” A bit of a sacrifice, to sing alleluias in the rain, but after all, we aren’t made of sugar. We melted only a little bit in the deluge; our frozen hearts melted a little to see our priests and fellow Christians getting wet in order to stand with Christ as He offered Himself for the world. As one of our young adults beamed, “this is so exciting!”
People did come. Some brought umbrellas, and some just stood in the rain with smiles on their faces. Mr. Weatherman promised the skies would clear by 9am, but he was wrong. By 11:30am, however, it did seem the clouds had mostly parted, just in time for our four Latin Masses. So we powered up to our full four altars, two of which were under the open sky. But just around the consecration, thunderous clouds moved over us and again opened up. The two priests at open altars tried their best to cover the sacred species with their ample vestments, but some hosts did get a bit soggy. The priests did not run for cover, but stood at their posts, seeing the Mass through to the final blessing.
What about the people? They stood in the rain, smiles on their faces. One of them told me the next day, “Father, that was the best Mass I’ve attended! The Eucharist has become so real, now that we too are making sacrifices to attend Christ’s sacrifice.” A bit of a sacrifice, to sing alleluias in the rain, but after all, we aren’t made of sugar. We melted only a little bit in the deluge; our frozen hearts melted a little to see our priests and fellow Christians getting wet in order to stand with Christ as He offered Himself for the world. As one of our young adults beamed, “this is so exciting!”
One of our outdoor weddings, celebrated on a Sunny San Francisco day
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