Thank You Deacon Greg Kandra
Thank you Deacon Greg Kandra. Deacon Greg changed his homily this weekend and posted it on his blog, you can find it here. Deacon Greg had written a homily to give Sunday morning, but as the stormed raged on the East Coast, and travelers were stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he changed his homily (that means extra work for him!). Thanks to social media, our plight was known worldwide and it was mentioned from many ambos across the nation I am sure. Deacon Greg Kandra talked about our experiences, but he was not there and so his homily, while good, cannot tell the whole story. Even I cannot tell the whole story, but I not only witnessed things first hand, I took part in a lot of these events.
This is my experience on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. When the Body of Christ comes together, beautiful things happen. Love happens.
We left Washington DC and were traveling along, slow and steady, heading back home. Then traffic came to a complete stop. We thought it would get moving quickly enough as there was only a half inch of snow. Little did we know at that point.
We watched the snow build up, minute after minute, hour after hour. The cars around us getting buried. We woke to two feet of snow, with no end in sight. We were not worried, our bus was warm, we had a working bathroom, a plethora of food and water. But that was not everyone's reality.
Many people, singles and families, knocked on our bus door and they were given food. We could good food to the hungry.
One person near us had a shovel, but it was no match in helping people dig out of this snow. We dug our pro-life signs out of the bottom of the bus and helped dig out the cars. We were freeing the imprisoned. I cannot tell you how many times, warming up on the bus, someone would shout, "There's another one!" We would jump off the bus and start pushing and shoveling more. Not far from us, for the cars, was freedom. If they could get 1/2 mile up the road from us to a maintenance shed, they could get turned around on the eastbound lane, which was clear, and head out!
Late morning, firemen and others went along delivering water and later, food.
We were meeting so many people who had also attended the March for Life, but many others who had no idea what it was - they had never heard of it. We were able to tell them all about it. Several people thanked us for digging them out, or pushing them up the road. Many asked why we were helping...and we joyfully said, "Because this is what Christian pro-lifers do!"
We value life. We love. We help alleviate suffering.
We were 2 lanes from the bottom of a hill and I cannot describe the panic throughout the bus when the Avalanche came down....no one cared about the snow, but about the family walking along...with a small child. They were really shaken, but unhurt.
When a gentlemen, whom we'd met earlier in the day, knocked on the door and told us about a roadside Mass, we were tripping over ourselves to get off the bus. Pulling on boots and jumping off the bus to put our coats on.
We had to climb the hill for Mass so we would not be in the way of traffic that managed to get through the snow. Singing started, it was beautiful. Kids everywhere! Singing, praying, attending Mass while it continued to snow, standing in two feet of snow. The responses at Mass were the loudest I have ever heard.
Many of us made a spiritual communion as there was simply not enough hosts, even split many times, for all of us. We remained quiet, making spiritual communions. Suddenly, people started shouting that they were going to allow the buses to start moving...no one was surprised. God was present.
I have been on the March for Life many times and every year it is a blessing. This year was no exception. We were truly blessed the entire time we were stranded, and since then. We talked to people about our experience from Altoona, Pa. where we stopped for dinner when we finally made it out until we arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, where we were met by news crews and a crowd of people welcoming us back!
The national news does not cover the March for Life...but they do cover bad weather. So, because they covered a storm, pro-lifers finally had a bit of a voice - it was unavoidable. Ironically, our storms are named...in this case, Jonas; but the millions of babies killed by abortion who do not receive names are ignored. It is tragic beyond words.
It was several more hours before the buses started getting out, but that was after we were told we would likely be there all night. The snow had finally stopped and at one point, it even seemed the sun was trying to cheer us. We thought we should start getting our own bus shoveled out so that when we could leave, there would be no obstacles. We had put our pro-life signs on the side of the road, a witness to all who had driven by, but they were gone - our "shovels" had disappeared! And then someone remembered the pizza boxes under the bus, so those became our shovels.
Excitement rang through the bus when we saw a bus drove by. Then a semi. Then more. We started to hope we might be soon leaving. Some firemen showed up to help us out dig out, but then the bus got stuck. It was not moving forward or backward. The bus driver asked everyone to get to the back of the bus...but we needed more than that. We needed our Mother. Joining our prayers to everyone praying for us, I asked Mary, and all the angels and saints to intercede. I started a Hail Mary and a few joined in. Then another, and more joined in. The third Hail Mary, everyone joined in and the bus just rolled forward and right onto the pathway those cars used all day. Loudly we prayed a Glory Be...because all praise goes to God!
We were free at last. As our bus headed out, we were directed to the eastbound lane, and we continued our prayers for the others still stranded....miles and miles of buses and semis (we prayed all the cars were on their way by then).
The remainder of the trip was uneventful. We stopped to eat a hot meal, bedded down and let the driver do her job and she did it wonderfully - thank you Ellen!
Our bus carried 8th graders (our youngest passengers), parents, other adults joining us and one retired priest, who joined us for a second year in a row. Remarkable people. People who kept positive through it all. Who helped their neighbors. People who never complained, even when the toilet on the bus broke. They kept persevering. Overcoming obstacles.
Love. We love, because He first loved us. He was our guide, our model, our help and He is our salvation!
Thank you Jesus.
