Have you ever tried going to a weekday Mass? On a regular basis? Think it’s not possible? I thought so until I started doing it. Made it a priority and now if I can’t go I feel like my day is missing something. Something important. Which it surely is. One of the things I found is that I’m more productive in a day when I make it to Mass. Seems counter intuitive but that’s just the way God works.

We attended weekday Mass at St. Agnes Catholic Church. This is a beautiful church that we’ve both been to before when we’ve been in town for the show. This was the first time we got to go together.

We get to work together again this week at the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, FL too.

I love the stories about St. Valentine and the origins of this day. My favorite is one that our Pastor told during Mass yesterday morning back home. Here it is from the History Channel website:

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

I assume this is a healthy sign. There was a lot more hand clapping, laughing, hand waving and hugging than I care for but I guess that’s the cultural difference between these folks and what I grew up with. The Mass is still the Mass and Jesus is there just the same. I never became fluent in Spanish but that doesn’t mean I didn’t understand what was going on as it relates to the different parts of the Mass and the prayers that were being said.

While down here we’ve attended Mass at several churches. Yesterday morning we attended Mass at St. Mary’s, pictured here. It’s the only church near us that has a Saturday morning Mass. It’s also one of two churches near where we hope to live.

Florida is my home state and where Cindy grew up. We’ve wanted to make this move for years but waited until our daughters were finished with college. Actually, our middle daughter still has a couple years of grad school in St. Louis to get her doctorate in Physical Therapy. So, our path to holiness may be taking us to Florida soon. I’m thinking positively anyway.

On the way a couple of us stopped for the night in Sioux City, IA. That gave me a chance to attend a weekday Mass at Sacred Heart Church.

After Mass they had Exposition. It is always nice to spend a little extra time in prayer with our Lord this way!

From there we proceeded to a farm near Highmore, SD.

Here’s a picture of our group after a lot of walking to find pheasants. We all got our limits and it was a great time for fellowship and fun.

On Sunday morning I took five of us to Mass at St. John’s in Harrold, SD. It’s a nice little country church. They had a 9am Mass which allowed us to get started on a day of walking the fields just shortly after starting time. I hope to get to do it again.

You can find photos from our hunt here.

We’re attending the World Dairy Expo which is the largest dairy show in the United States. It’s an annual event and you can find our stories and photos on our dairy news website, World Dairy Diary.

I was very blessed to attend Mass this weekend at St. John the Baptist Church in Guelph. Here’s a photo prior to Mass. We heard from a Comboni Missionaries priest. Very fascinating work that he’s involved in with people in Africa.

This week Cindy and I will be on the road together at the annual Farm Progress Show. It’s going to mean long days out at the show since you have to get in before the crowd and the lines start.