"I have chosen you..." (John 15.19) Beautiful words from our Lord in today's (Saturday) Gospel reading. These words are important for us to remember in our day-to-day lives, especially as we continue to struggle with the uncertainties and the additional burdens that we continue to bear.
As I am sure many of us have heard this past week, Governor Walz is lifting the Stay At Home order and replacing it with a Stay Safe order, allowing some businesses and venues to reopen, albeit with parameters set in place. Disappointing though, is that he is continuing to keep churches and places of worship closed. This is disappointing because while many stores have been allowed to remain open or to reopen, these places commonly allow many people to go in, walk about and touch common surfaces at every minute. While in many places of worship, the environment and structure of our buildings can be more user friendly in controlling the flow of traffic, as our churches tend to be more open and accommodating for large gatherings (social distancing), and the faithful are mostly staying in one place throughout the worship, not moving about through different pews and walking over each other.
I realize that no decision is ever easy to make, especially when the safety of others is at stake, so I ask for your continued prayers for Governor Walz, all civil and civic leaders, that they continue to work with Archbishop Hebda and all religious leaders to ensure equal treatment in providing the essential needs of our communities.
Please take a moment to read Archbishop Hebda's update below in regards to public Masses. Once we have a system in place for the limited occupancy at Presentation, an update will be sent out to the whole parish.
