July 26, 2020 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends in Christ:

PATIENCE…last weekend I preached about our need for more patience in life. It is the most common comment we, as priests, hear from our parishioners “Father, I need to work on patience…I need more patience with my husband/wife, my children…I need to work on being more patient when I am driving! My friends please know that we ALL need to work on being more patient in life and with others. We are ALL works in progress and that virtue is one of the most challenging of all.

One place I need more patience is when I am walking Fenway. It is not that I need more patience with my dog. It is with drivers! I have had many close calls from distracted drivers, teens on their phone while driving, and drivers not obeying state laws. Did you know that the crosswalk in front of the Town Library has a sign on each side of the road, as seen in my photo here, and it uses images to say, “State Law: Yield to Pedestrians within Crosswalk!” I can assure you that it is a rarity that anyone obeys that law. That drives me crazy! I have no patience for drivers who are not willing to give the right of way to pedestrians. At other intersections I observe the stop lights and crosswalk signals where they exists, but here it is presumed the pedestrian has the right of way. NOT SO!