The Rev. Tim Shillcox told parishioners of St. Rose Parish in Clintonville and St. Mary’s Parish in Bear Creek (collectively referred to as SSRM) that while the past few months of the COVID-19 pandemic did not feel like a vacation, they accomplished what vacations are supposed to do.

“The respite from being ‘on the clock’ and the vacant, empty schedules, so a person can choose to do what they choose, as those ‘free days’ unfold, has a powerful potential to restore, refresh and renew us all,” Shillcox wrote in the July 12 parish bulletin. “We need it to go on, don’t we?”

Shillcox reflected on five days he recently spent at Morgan Lake in Florence County.

The Rev. Tim Shillcox | http://www.ssrmparishes.org/

“Some might see it as ‘boring,’” Shillcox wrote. “For me, it was wonderful. The chance to observe and be a part of nature, to rest, sleep, sit and think (or just sit), to read, pray and remember – it was very healing and renewing in an essential way. And while I prayed for you, I didn’t worry about you, or life back here at SSRM. God’s got it; God’s got us!”

Shillcox added that he was able to gaze at the moon, Saturn and Jupiter, as well as see wildlife such as hummingbirds, loons and lots of fish. He relished the opportunity to celebrate Mass on the screened porch overlooking the lake.

“When I said during Mass, ‘Heaven and earth are full of Your glory! Hosanna in the highest,’ I was in the thick of that truth,” Shillcox recalled.

He further encouraged his flock to find themselves and God in any way they vacation this summer.

Both parishes recently provided fiscal reports. Shillcox said St. Rose made budgeted “envelope income” while St. Mary’s was just slightly behind its budgeted number, though it matched last year’s figure of $119,000.