What a great day!

Never forget that God is good and that He can miracles. Sounds obvious, right? Yeah, but being the fallible humans we are, we sometimes forget and start our worrying again.

The reason I say that is because yesterday’s Live2BHoly Catholic Family Festival in Salem, Mass., presented by ww.proud2bcatholic.com, was a resounding success. All week the forecast had been for thunderstorms and rain, but we just kept praying—Rosaries, nightly Adoration, and so on. Last year, we had rain and if it rained again, we were afraid it could kill the event. We abandoned ourselves to Divine Providence and what do you think happened? That’s right, we had a great day, with only a few sprinkles at the start of Mass and then beautiful blue skies by the end of the day. Yet in the very next town over, it was pouring rain!

In case you don’t know, the Festival/Concert is an outdoor event planned and organized by my brother-in-law that features top-notch Catholic musicians from around the country performing at an all-day event on Salem Common. in addition to music, there was a Mass, a confession tent, and an Adoration tent (the Eucharist is brought in procession from my parish church down the street; an awesome witness). For the past three years, there was no admission fee, just free-will offerings. And even there’s no big-money behind it, no big corporate sponsor or foundation grant, it happens. The festival, I’ve been told, is the biggest Catholic music festival in the country, and it’s likely the biggest family-friendly Catholic event in the Archdiocese of Boston.

It was great to see those of you who came: Jen Stewart, Bob the hermit, Tom Fitzpatrick and his wife, Heidi, Joe Ford, Steve and Kari, and Joe Soucy (and anyone else I forgot to mention). Poor Joe had to go to the hospital in an ambulance after he got hit in the eyeball with a frisbee. But, despite the injury, and not an insignificant one, he eventually came back in time for Mass. a

I wasn’t able to take any still photos, because I was videotaping the whole thing but I will post some screen captures from the video at a later date.

A big hello to Joe Moorman and Michael John Poirier, two of the artists who stayed overnight with us.

As good as this year’s concert was, I’m looking forward to next year. For one thing, we already have big-name artist lined up as headliner. And we’ll probably be moving to a new location that’s easier for people to get to and has better facilities. So, if you missed it this year, make sure you come next year. and if you stayed away because of the weather, don’t let that deter you. Because God does miracles.