The Miracle in the Snow

Miracle searchers don’t have to delve into the long ago past searching for miracles from Above. They only have to go back to Sunday past when a ‘Miracle in the Snow’ proved that not even the worst blizzard of a generation can blow out the candle of faith. With high winds driving 30 and more inches of snow, Winter Storm ‘Jonas’ blew out the power for millions. It caused Mayor Bill de Blassio to order New Yorkers to shelter inside their homes and brought the nation’s capitol to a standstill. During the storm’s worst, some 500 students, praying Mass on an altar constructed of snow on the side of a Pennsylvania highway, uttered the most profound words of them all: “My Lord and my God” when the Holy Eucharist was raised during Consecration by Fr. Patrick Behm, parochial vicar of All Saints’ Parish in Le Mars, Iowa. and the chaplain of Gehlen Catholic High School in Le Mars.

Busloads of students heading home from the mainstream-media ignored March for Life in Washington, D.C. got stranded on the highway for approximately 22 hours. Hampered by driving snow, and working in brutal winds, they built an altar and held Mass on the side of the highway. There is no doubt that Christ, in the Holy Eucharist, attends all Masses, held on all altars throughout the world. But the Mass held near mile marker 133 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Sunday is one that will be remembered as the Mass of a Lifetime for all 500 who were there. ChurchPOP tracked down Fr. Behm, the priest who presided over this historic Mass, and interviewed him about his experience.

“It was incredible,” Fr. Behm told ChurchPOP, “easily one of the highlights of my time as a priest.”

Fr. Behm had been chaperoning five students from his high school when their bus, along with many others, got stuck behind an accident involving two tractor-trailers that blocked all of the westbound lanes of traffic.

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“In the time it took to clear this accident, the snow in turn rendered the road impassible and the vehicles immobile.” (ChurchPOP) Tired, cold and stranded by what the media recorded as the worst blizzard of a generation, the students not having an altar at which to pray to their Creator, decided to build their own. Rather than groan, gripe and complain about the long wait out in the cold of the P.A. Turnpike, they left their wind-sheltered buses going out in the blizzard to build an altar of snow. Their parents and relatives, not to mention their guardian angels, must have been so proud of them. ‘Snow angels’ from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, led by their youth minister Bill Dill, went ‘round to other buses spreading the word of the Mass. “The now famous Mass was a powerful spiritual experience for Fr. Behm and everyone else involved. (ChurchPOP)

“It left me with many impressions, but among them was the fact that Jesus enters into the storm. Jesus comes to us, in the storms of our life, and enters in to be with us. He desires to be with His people, and if we respond to this invitation to let Him in, then the message is profound hope and joy.” “Fr. Behm praised everyone for responding positively to such a hard situation: “Everyone on that turnpike had a choice: to respond with joy and a positive outlook, or to respond with negativity and anger. Neither approach would have gotten us out of there any faster. But, one approach at least made the waiting more bearable and tolerable.” “Further, he saw God reap spiritual fruit from the event: “God, in His providence, used this event to share the Gospel with scores of people who may never hear the Good News.” “Lastly, wanted to express an immense gratitude to all the workers who helped them: “the Pennsylvania National Guard, the Highway Patrol, the Pennsylvania DOT, local law enforcement, and the local fire department. It was a massive undertaking, and these first responders did a remarkable job.”

What happened out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Sunday should run an all-season chill down the spines of Planned Parenthood and its supporters. A grand jury investigating whether a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic had sold the organs of aborted babies cleared the clinic, indicting instead the undercover videographers behind the allegations. Whether or not Planned Parenthood and the mainstream media ignore them, there will ALWAYS be busloads of students ready to head to March for Life protests, even when getting back home means getting through the generation’s worst blizzard. That makes it 1 for the pro-life students and zero for Planned Parenthood and the mainstream media.