Sunday Schedule

It's been awhile since my last blog.  But given the original purpose of my starting this blog - to let you see a bit of the life of a priest - I figured yesterday's schedule was a good peek into the diversity I enjoy on a regular basis.
My day started early (6:30) as I slid my way over to church.  It was obvious that the black ice was going to be a problem.  All the thawing we had on Saturday froze overnight.  That prompted a call to our maintenance supervisor and a request for the sanding truck.  Meantime, since people were starting to arrive for the 1st Mass, I grabbed the bucket of sand and sanded the sidewalks around the church.
This weekend I presented the Annual Report to the Parish.  Unlike some priests I have known over the years, I feel it is pointless to go over the budget line by line.  People are not going to remember any of those figures.  Instead, I include a synopsis of the balance sheet from 2010 and the budget for 2011 in the bulletin and encourage people to peruse it and come back with any questions they might have.  And I use the Annual Report as a means of giving a State-of-the-Church address, highlighting significant events of the past year and giving a preview for the current year.
Three Masses later, the temps had warmed enough to melt that ice, and the Liturgy Committee met to discuss the implementation of the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal.  The idea was voiced of having a series of educational sessions during Lent in conjunction with Friday evening Stations of the Cross.  And since we have collaborated with the other churches in Town in praying the Stations the past few years, we thought we might do the presentations at the neighboring parishes as well.  I sent an email to the other pastors in town to see what their thoughts might be.
That ended the 'business' portion of my day.  Next on the agenda was preparing to host a Super Bowl Party for some 30 friends.  I had the Black-eyed Pea soup in the slow cooker since 9:00 - to coincide with the half-time entertainment, in case you didn't figure that one out.  I made some Wicked Wings with my favorite Stubb's Wicked Wing Sauce - the pepper doesn't hit you initially, but lingers for quite some time.  And I did a baked brie with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, brown sugar and maple syrup - delectable!  Add that to all the food my friends brought, and I don't need to eat for a week!
Since my teams - Vikings, Redskins, and the local favorite Patriots were all home watching too, I lighted on the Packers for this game.  They beat Chicago when I didn't think they would, and Pittsburg's been there recently.  It was a real good game, made better by the Packer's win, and the fact that I won the 4th quarter of our pool.
Though my friends assisted in the post-game cleanup, I still did not get to bed before mignight.  A long day - some work, some play.  I'm not sure how far I got with my night prayers before my eyes closed for good. 
I knew I had to sleep 'fast' since Monday was going to be another full day.