For those of you who don’t know, I serve at St. Michael Church in Newark in Wayne County, New York, which is bordered on the north by Lake Ontario.  That means today (Wednesday, March 15, 2017) we have about 18 inches of the snow on the ground with 5-8 more inches forecasted for today and 1-3 inches tonight.  This started with the major storm that moved up the east coast yesterday but it continues with lake effect snow from Lake Ontario as the air mass has circled around.

With all this in mind, I want to offer a simple thought on hope.  Yesterday was miserable with the weather and it was forecasted to get worse during the night.  Many places were announcing last night cancellations for today.  I felt I would probably end up closing the office today but I did not want to make the decision last night because I like to think there is always hope.

Well, this morning I was outside shoveling to get to the church for daily Mass.  As I stood in 18 inches of snow, I decided to close the office and all parish events for the day are cancelled (the local sheriff’s office says no unnecessary travel till 5 a.m. tomorrow).

Does this mean there is no hope?  Only for the office to be open today.  With Jesus Christ as our savior and redeemer, there is always hope!  Even looking at Jesus dying on the Cross, what we see is hope because Jesus’ Crucifixion makes eternal life possible.  Jesus’ Resurrection shows us that there is more to life that what we see in this world.  For all who believe in Jesus as the way and the truth and the life there is always hope!

For now, look at the white snow and think of the fifth line of last Sunday’s Gospel when, in the Transfiguration, Jesus’ “clothes became white as light.”  That is an image of Jesus’ glory in Heaven.  At Baptism, we are dressed in white and at our funeral a white pall is placed upon our casket as a sign of our share in eternal life.  And so we have hope.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff