Even though the pandemic continues, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations reaching our elderly, our teachers and more essential workers. This week we heard that every adult will have vaccinations available to them by the end of May. What a relief! On top of this news, we hear that the County of Santa Clara has moved from the purple tier to the red tier and our businesses can start resuming indoor activities. I am delighted to say that we have now 75% of our students back on campus for classes. We are finally beginning to think about a more normal life again in the near future. I encourage everyone who is allowed, please get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Yet, we still need to get through the next few months, especially with the new variants increasing. With that in mind, I am not changing the indoor/outdoor Mass schedule and we will continue our schedule as previously published. We will also keep all safety measures in place regarding the wearing of masks and keeping social distance when on the Church and School property. We can do this together, keep everyone safe and hold on for another few months until everyone gets vaccinated.
I am fully aware of the covid-exhaustion we are feeling because of the social isolation and the impact that this is having on the old and the young alike. For some, this stress causes a struggle with mental health. It is with that in mind I am delighted to announce the launch of a mental health ministry at St. Simon called Hope & Wellness. I am grateful to the Association of Catholic Health Ministers for their grant that allows us to start this ministry and to Rose Lue and her team; Maria Allo, Linda Batton, Anna Pryor, Linda Ramelot, and Dolores & Larry Thompson. We will hold a number of listening sessions to identify the local needs and encourage you to attend one of them or fill out a questionnaire. See more information on this ministry in the article below and meet the team.
I again encourage you to join me on the Lenten Retreat series Forgiveness: A Journey from Hurt to Freedom. Last week, I went over the latest Cairn of Humility and explained the dynamics behind hurt and anger; explaining how easily we find ourselves in the choice of unforgiveness. It was a detailed session in which I used charts to explain the flow from experience to hurt/anger to our response. I explained how we move through two belief systems inside of us to give a response and how we have control over our response. While we cannot control what happens to us, we can control how we respond what happens to us. If you have not watched the first two sessions, you can still do so by clicking here for YouTube. Next week, we will move onto the Cairn of Love and explain how we can choose forgiveness. I will walk through several ways in which we can learn how to best pause and begin the process of forgiveness. We need to first accept God’s forgiveness, then forgive God, and then forgive ourselves. Only then can we move to forgiving others. So please come join me on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. for our third session on forgiveness.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan