April 24, 2022

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~

A couple of months ago, the US Senate voted 100-0 to leave standard time behind and make day light saving time permanent. When was the last time the Senate voted unanimously on anything? Simply put, we American’s are sick of changing our clocks twice a year. While I would have preferred the Senate to make standard time permanent, most Americans obviously prefer day light saving time, taking an hour of light from the morning and placing it in the evening. This got me thinking about our 7am weekday Mass time.

A little history. When I arrived here almost eight years ago, we had Mass at different times on different days of the week. Trying to remember the Mass schedule from day to day was a hassle and leant itself to confusion. This was also difficult for me in that I set my sleep schedule to the Mass schedule; an erratic sleep schedule was not good for me. So we settled on 7am Monday thru Friday, one of the times that was being used back then.

Why 7am instead of a later time? I wanted an early Mass time for people who worked so they could attend Mass then head off to work. I also wanted an early Mass time for school kids, so parents could bring their kids to Mass then take them to school. Well, it never really worked out that way. While there are some who attend Mass before heading to work in the morning, that number never grew as I had hoped. The number of kids who attend Mass before school is down to one. The take away? Most Americans are not morning people.

Moving our weekday Mass time from 7am to 8am or even 8:30am, will be upsetting to some of the people who attend the 7am Mass. Some of the 7am Mass goers are morning people and like the time, while some others have a work schedule that won’t permit them to attend a later Mass. As a priest who says Mass seven days a week, believe me when I say that my heart goes out to those people who can’t attend a later time. My heart also goes out to those people who don’t attend weekday Masses because 7am is too early for them, and that latter number is greater than the former.

Moving the weekday Mass to a later time will also help me. Currently I turn out the lights at 7:40pm so I can rise at 3:40am. 3:40am?! I have found that I need to have my holy hour and exercise before Mass in the morning. Trust me when I tell you that I need a daily holy hour and exercise. If those two things don’t happen before Mass in the morning, then they usually don’t happen at all, that’s why I go to bed so early and get up so early. When the Mass moves to 8am or 8:30am, then I’ll be able to turn out the lights at 8:40pm or 9:10pm. This will be a great help for me when I have evening events, and especially with my morning recoveries after those evening events.

A brief word about the rosary. Whether the new weekday Mass time is 8am or 8:30am, the rosary will be prayed 20 minutes before the Mass starts as we do on Saturday and Sunday.

So here’s the plan. If you think you would go to a weekday Mass if it were at 8am or 8:30am, please click here, or go to our website and scroll down to the weekday Mass button, and let me know which time would work best for you: I need your input by Tuesday, April 26th. Thank You. The new weekday Mass time will go into effect on Monday, May 2nd.

In Christ, the Creator of Time,