Regardless of whether you’re able to attend the annual Blue Mass of Thanksgiving in body, joining the Phoenix celebration in spirit through prayer might be a good idea. The liturgy honors the law enforcement and other emergency personnel.
Men and women in such vocations put a lot on the line. Sometimes their entire lives. At the same time, their soul can also be on the line. They’re often exposed to a lot of negativity as Ignacio recalls in this Dynamic Catholic video.
The career can take a toll on their faith, if they had one at all. They deal with quite a bit of evil. Ensuring law enforcement and other emergency personnel have God’s protection — and the intercession of any related patron saints — can make a difference.
James Sinohui, a West Valley Catholic, spent a good 19 years in law enforcement working everything from undercover gangs, to SWAT to K-9 units to school resource officer. He began to personally pray for those he professionally protected under the law. Sinohui occasionally left a few drops of holy water behind on a call to minimize the evil that existed there.
He retired within the last year or so to devote full time efforts to a pair of new roles: foster dad — on top of his role as father of three girls — and selling coffee on behalf of pro-life efforts. Or, as his Twitter bio puts it:
Husband and Father just trying to take his family to Heaven. I sell great coffee and promote life!
Sinohui’s coffee effort is opening up its first store front this month. Check out the family’s gratitude in the early days of asking for support:
Speaking of gratitude, take a look at a few firefighter photos we discovered:
Some tragically beautiful photos from our fire crew in Napa. #WeCareforYou pic.twitter.com/kzouOANKLw
— ScottsdaleFD (@ScottsdaleFire) October 19, 2017
The crew who helped in Cali are on their way home. Safe travels! #WeCareForYou pic.twitter.com/1hZj6QicZO
— ScottsdaleFD (@ScottsdaleFire) October 23, 2017
Remember, the Mass of Thanksgiving for law enforcement and emergency personnel is 10 a.m. Nov. 9 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. Hope you can make it in body or spirit.
Blue Masses across the country
It’s a new tradition — only the second year — at a church in Virginia
This year’s event page for the Archdiocese of Atlanta traced the tradition to Baltimore in 1934
Radio coverage from Washington, D.C., which holds it earlier in year to align with National Police Week
The tradition at University of Notre Dame marks 15 years in 2017
