Igloo Nation

Our parish church, St Louis and St Mary's in the snow, with the abandoned cars

"O Come Thou Thaw From On High"

Yes, dear friends, that is the great Advent anthem which is rising from the hearts, minds, voices and frustrations of the people of Ireland at this time.  We are in the midst of one of the worst winters for years, breaking weather records every day - we do that a lot these times in Ireland, breaking records.  The conditions are getting worse - snow is falling and building up.  The UK is in as bad a state as we are.  Our primary roads are in a bad state - never mind our secondary roads. The roads in my parish are in a very bad state - they have not been gritted or cleared since this started almost a week ago - our local council is struggling with the main roads.  

I had five people at Mass last evening, - First Friday, which normally attracts a good crowd.   I do not know how things will be for the Sunday Masses.  The chapels of ease are in difficult spots - St Patrick's (Rushwee) is snowed under, St Brigid's (Grangegreeth) is up a huge hill and at this stage impassable.  I was talking with my sacristan in St Patrick's and she expressed the hope we may get a thaw before the Vigil on Saturday evening, it seems this morning her hopes may be realised - this morning there seems to be a bit of a thaw, although it will take a few days - the roads are still treacherous.   Things are bad out here in the country.  We have not had post all week, and for the last few days the car park has been playing host to a few cars which have been abandoned for the duration.

Well, I suppose this is real Advent - we just have to wait for the thaw before normal life resumes, in the meantime we struggle on doing what we can, stumbling, skidding and sliding.  Weather like this reminds us that we are not in control and we must, in the end, submit to forces greater than ourselves.  If this is true of the weather, it is even more true of God.  This is a lesson human beings have to learn for themselves.  Pope Benedict said that each generation must discover Christ for themselves - in that personal encounter with him they find faith and the truth the Church holds dear and proclaims.  But it is also true to say that each generation must discover the limitations of the human condition, and then the power of God's grace and love which can raise fallen humanity - to come to that insight we must encounter the cross - Christ on the cross who is in himself, in his perfect humanity, in his redeeming work, the sign of salvation.  Alleluia - that is good news.  This is a lesson we need to learn in Ireland today.

For those of you who face such winter weather every year, please bear with us.  Our climate is so mild, we rarely have snow at this level, so we are unprepared.  It seems that this may become the norm for us for the years to come.  Looking back on our climate history, our winters were much colder than what we were used to in the last few hundred years: it seems our climate may be readjusting to what had been the norm up here in the North.