July 24, 2009
The Christian Journey
A misstep before Mass
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
On Saturday evening precisely at 5:28 p.m. (two minutes before our 5:30 p.m. Mass) I had a close encounter with the concrete sidewalk as I was descending the high sacristy steps at St. Joseph Church! Thinking I was on the bottom step, there were still more to go and that’s when all “heaven” broke loose.
Just imagine this “big-boned” priest (we’ll leave it at that, thank you!) falling like a giant Sequoia! Unaware of what was happening, I couldn’t catch my balance so splat onto the concrete went the left side of my head. Parishioners came rushing over to help me as my facial wound bled profusely. (Later someone asked if I was embarrassed and I said, “Heck no! I felt “loved” by all the help! I think I’m past that stage of being embarrassed — we need one another!)
Someone asked, “Where was your guardian angel?” to which I responded, “Oh, she was there, otherwise it could have been worse — had I hit my temple, I could have gone to heaven (is that worse or better?)” Thank God, to our angels, we must be as “light as feathers”! A nurse examined my wound and thought it was deep enough to require sutures.
Meanwhile, people were panicking about what to do for Mass. I tried to tell them to continue with a “Liturgy of the Word” according to our diocesan directives in the emergency absence of a priest (Father Ray was out of town at a wedding reception). Being a lowly associate pastor, they either did not hear me or did not trust my advice, so they called the pastor anyway who left the reception in Huntingburg and came over 20 minutes later for Mass.
(Matt Miller, the Diocesan Director of Worship, and I have been in contact this past week and sometime in the future, he plans to write an article on the proper procedures to follow in such an emergency circumstance. PLCs and pastors, this may be an opportune time to ask if anyone in your parish has been trained or is in need of retraining to lead a Liturgy of the Word Service in case of an emergency. Matt, forgive me, but maybe your office could organize such a diocesan-wide training program for the sake of continuity.)
Off to the emergency room, two kind former parishioners transported me. The ER doctor asked me if I had been drinking. I told him “No, this happened before Mass.” He asked, “If I were acting normal?” I asked, “What does ‘normal’ mean to you?” I think I passed the neurological tests because they released me after putting five sutures in my eyebrow. The parishioners were told what happened and prayed the rosary for me until Father Ray returned (never doubt the power of prayer — I had no other scrapes, bruises, or twisted arms, backs, etc. — just the gash on my eyebrow with five blue stitches and a nice “shiner” for 10 days now).
What has this experience taught me? Don’t talk when walking on steps. Don’t talk to others when they are walking on steps. Start using handrails when you hit 59! Remember what our high school physics teacher taught us, “No two inanimate objects can occupy the same space at the same time!” “Concrete and my head are equally hard!” “Either I cracked the sidewalk, or priests fell on the same spot before me.” “Let people help when you’re ‘down and out’!” Dear people, this winter when it snows or ices up, stay home and watch Mass on TV! A word to the wise — from someone who fell in the summer!