When Our Best Just Isn't Enough

I woke up this morning really excited...

I had made all the preparations last night. I was going to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity for the first time in a long time! They are doing a summer camp this week and next at St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church. I called, got an address, did a mapquest, was all set. So I thought.

I got off work at about 11, grabbed a quick lunch, and prepared for a 20 minute bike ride to Victoria Avenue in Saint Paul. It's the hottest day of the year so far and there is no such thing as a dry heat in Minnesota, but it's all for the Lord! I get down to where the map says I should go, get all excited, and find there is no church on the corner of Victoria and 7th. Hmm...

Well, I figure I could go back to Victoria North and try there. That required me to go all the way down 7th street nearly to downtown and up the huge Grand Avenue hill. Up and down every inch of Victoria and I can't find the church. At this point, I had been out in the brutal midday sun for nearly an hour and a half. My high-latitude Irish skin just couldn't take it anymore so I decide to call it a day.

After downing cup after cup of water I go back to the internet to find where I went wrong.

It turns out the church is on Virginia not Victoria.

So close (in distance not just name) and yet so far.

And so I struggle on. At some point in these next two weeks, St. Vincent DePaul will no longer be elusive. In the mean time, some soul must have really been ready to get out of Purgatory. What else can you do but offer it up. At least someone will get something out of my sunburn.

We are United in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!