As we begin the New Year, it has been a unique few weeks and given me much to think about. The first semester of my seminary life ended on December 17th and from that point, the seminarians are expected to return home – and in many ways to come home for Christmas! And what a great few weeks it has been…and an adjustment as well.
What has been so wonderful and overwhelming for me is the tremendous welcome and affirmation I have received. This is the first time since leaving in August that I have been home for an extended amount of time. The pace of life outside of the Seminary has taken some time get used to, yet it has been good to approach prayer, life, ministry and study in a different way over the past few weeks.
Celebrating Christmas is a good example of the adjustment of returning home in a bit of a different capacity yet finding comfort and support in many of the familiar and foundational places that have brought me to this place in my life. On Christmas Eve, I worked in Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center. It was a different way to be present, particularly for those who not feeling so well around the holidays. I volunteered at Our Lady of Lourdes, the parish I worked in for the past eight years and have been part of for my entire life, and meet so many people at the Christmas Eve and Day Masses. I spent time with family at times and moments, that in the past I would have been working so that, too, was a wonderful opportunity. I prayed Hope House at the Christmas Eve Mass held at the Pax Christi Hospitality Center. I have even had the chance to share Christmas with a few families I have come to know and love from my life in this local community. All things I probably would not have been able to do in the past. What a way to be welcomed and included and what a way to celebrate Christmas!
The weeks since have allowed me to be present in the parish community, visit with many family and to work and volunteer in the hospital and at Hope House (and to catch a bit of a break too!). Now many of the seminarians prepare for the interterm. Some will go on retreat in New Jersey and Jamaica (Queens, not the island) while
the pastoral year, third year and fourth year theologians (including me) will leave today for the Holy Land for a two week pilgrimage. I’ve listed the itinerary and some relevant readings in the column to the right. Follow along if you’d like and please keep me and all who will be on this journey in your thoughts and prayers. If I’m able, I’ll try to post an entry or two from the Holy Land.
Peace!
What has been so wonderful and overwhelming for me is the tremendous welcome and affirmation I have received. This is the first time since leaving in August that I have been home for an extended amount of time. The pace of life outside of the Seminary has taken some time get used to, yet it has been good to approach prayer, life, ministry and study in a different way over the past few weeks.
Celebrating Christmas is a good example of the adjustment of returning home in a bit of a different capacity yet finding comfort and support in many of the familiar and foundational places that have brought me to this place in my life. On Christmas Eve, I worked in Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center. It was a different way to be present, particularly for those who not feeling so well around the holidays. I volunteered at Our Lady of Lourdes, the parish I worked in for the past eight years and have been part of for my entire life, and meet so many people at the Christmas Eve and Day Masses. I spent time with family at times and moments, that in the past I would have been working so that, too, was a wonderful opportunity. I prayed Hope House at the Christmas Eve Mass held at the Pax Christi Hospitality Center. I have even had the chance to share Christmas with a few families I have come to know and love from my life in this local community. All things I probably would not have been able to do in the past. What a way to be welcomed and included and what a way to celebrate Christmas!
The weeks since have allowed me to be present in the parish community, visit with many family and to work and volunteer in the hospital and at Hope House (and to catch a bit of a break too!). Now many of the seminarians prepare for the interterm. Some will go on retreat in New Jersey and Jamaica (Queens, not the island) while
the pastoral year, third year and fourth year theologians (including me) will leave today for the Holy Land for a two week pilgrimage. I’ve listed the itinerary and some relevant readings in the column to the right. Follow along if you’d like and please keep me and all who will be on this journey in your thoughts and prayers. If I’m able, I’ll try to post an entry or two from the Holy Land.Peace!
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