{"id":6892,"date":"2020-05-15T14:51:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T19:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=6892"},"modified":"2020-05-15T14:51:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T19:51:07","slug":"dear-friends-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/dear-friends-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Friends,"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hi.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sitting here wondering what I can talk to you about\nthat might bring a bit of Holy Trinity to you in these days\nwhen we can\u2019t be together.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York State just announced Phase I (of 4) goes into\neffect this Friday. It allows necessary construction and\nmanufacturing projects to restart. Looking down the\nstaging it seems haircuts and church worship will begin\nin Phase 4. Each phase is separated by two weeks.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would put our gathering for mass at Holy Trinity sometime at the end of June (perhaps the 28th). By my reckoning that means we\u2019re half way with the social distancing – – 6 weeks down, 6 weeks to go. Other things will open before that, retail etc., but Sunday mass is still a ways away <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So how are you holding up? Getting tired of same old same old? Need a haircut? We\u2019re all in that boat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember when your parents piled you all in the car and\noff you went to some distant destination . . . maybe\ngrandma\u2019s or some state park. \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d we\u2019d\nasked over and over. \u201cHow long will it be?\u201d (Dad would\nbe the one to stop the whining. \u201cJust sit back and count\nthe cars. I\u2019ll let you know when we\u2019re close.\u201d) We were\nin agony in the back seat.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kinda like now, only this time we\u2019re older and much\nmore mature. Right?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Okay, so here\u2019s what it\u2019s like in the rectory for me and Fr. John. With no real appointment to keep until mass at nine each morning, our rising and starting the day varies. Generally speaking, I\u2019d say we\u2019re both up and getting ready for the day around 7 am (sometimes earlier).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Fr. John stays in his room for morning prayer and\nthen heads to the kitchen. I can\u2019t wait. I want a cup of\ncoffee and the paper (and thank you to my friend, who\nfaithfully leaves it right outside the rectory door.)\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight o\u2019clock finds us reading the paper and making\ncomments on the news, \u201cHey Tim, it says here there\u2019s\nfive things we need to know about how the Bills will fill\nthe outside linebacker position.\u201d Or \u201cJohn, did you know\nnow\u2019s the time to plant peas?\u201d Fascinating stuff.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Are you still reading this?!!\nCall someone for help.)\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then off we each go to continue the morning (shower, mass, morning prayer, more coffee then down to the office). Kasey Baker, Helen Sleeman and Pam Schultz are there at various times working away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So time to read emails and respond. Write the bulletin message (you\u2019re reading it now). Look out over the days ahead to be sure I don\u2019t miss anything. Nothing going. By noon Fr. John is watching Governor Cuomo\u2019s press conference. (Say what you want about his other shortcomings, this man knows how to handle a pandemic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point you go over the readings for Sunday and\nbegin to prepare a homily. \u201cLord, let this be YOUR <\/strong>word\nto the people, not mine.\u201d (Fr. John and I take this part of\nour ministry very seriously.) Preparation, reading the\nscripture background and commentary, takes a good 3 to\nfive hours during the week, along with prayer asking for\nthe Holy Spirit.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading for pleasure has been a real gift in these days and each of us find an hour or two to follow our various interests. Fr. John is a voracious reader. He just finished all the Killing Kennedy, Jesus, Patton, Lincoln, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to read stuff on anthropology (how humans developed) and biographies (Churchill recently). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinner happens around 5:30. We have so many parishioners to thank for bringing meals to the rectory. (I mentioned a few weeks back how we like spaghetti, and we do. But not three nights in a row. Cool it with the spaghetti please!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After dinner, (still with me?) <\/strong>we catch the evening\nnews in John\u2019s room then it\u2019s off to our own apartment.\nReading, prayers, phone calls, music fill this time.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCocktails?\u201d you ask. Why yes, I\u2019d love one thank you.\nThis starts at nine and goes to ten. Truly a cocktail\nHOUR. <\/strong>We watch more news (we\u2019re junkies), some-\ntimes switching between MSNBC <\/strong>and Hannity on Fox.\nThey\u2019re on totally different planets. Someday we\u2019ll end\nthe name calling.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten o\u2019clock, in our rooms, lights out soon after. \u201cGood\nnight Lord. Thank you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I presumed I\u2019ve bored you to death, but now you know\nwhat it\u2019s like for Fr. John and me in the rectory. Com-\npared to us old guys maybe your life looks a bit brighter\nnow!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please know we both miss you, pray for you, and can\u2019t wait till we\u2019re all together again. Don\u2019t be afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi. I\u2019m sitting here wondering what I can talk to you about that might bring a bit of Holy Trinity to you in these days when we can\u2019t be together. New York State just announced Phase I (of 4) goes into effect this Friday. It allows necessary construction and manufacturing projects to restart. Looking down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6894,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892\/revisions\/6894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}