Time is flying

I cannot believe how fast time has flown this semester. After this, I only have a year-and-a-half left here. In a little over six months, I'll be ordained to the Diaconate. Everything is moving so fast. But I'm enjoying myself. This year has gone a lot more smoothly than the previous two, and there are a number of factors to that reason. But I'm glad everything has turned out the way it has, and I just pray that God will continue to lead me to where he wants me to be. I also pray that I have the strength and the courage to endeavor whatever will come.

And as I continue to travel down these halls, I pray for the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and Blessed Francis Xavior Seelos for their guidance along my life here in the seminary.

Blue Clouds

Taking a break from the work of the day, I went outside to walk around a bit. When I stepped out onto the front porch of my residence hall, the wind was really blowing around, and the clouds were whipping around the sky. And then I saw . . .

. . . BLUE CLOUDS.

In the almost 32 years of my life, I have never seen blue clouds. It was an amazing sight. I have seen white clouds, black clouds, gray clouds, yellow clouds - but never blue. It was like the clouds were taking on the color of the sky and trying to blend in to it. The only thing I wish is that I had had my camera.

But, as is often the case, the best pictures are the ones you preserve in your memory.

In awe . . .

It's amazing to be leading a group that is so completely open to the Spirit and His workings.

This semester (and next, come to think of it), I'm leading a Vocation Discernment Group at my college alma mater to some of the Catholic students on campus. It's been a wonderful experience for me, and I believe for them as well. We've had some great discussions, and it's been a powerful experience.

I've noticed how God has been working through me with this group, and I'm completely in awe of how much I have opened up to the Spirit while leading this group. Though the group is small (only about 8 people), the young men and women who constitute the membership of the group are focused in their faith and not afraid to ask where God is asking them to be and what His will is for them. I see a lot of me in them at this particular point in their lives . . . as well as the particular place (that is, the specific college), since that is where I did a lot of my prayer and discernment before entering the seminary. (Yes, it was four years after I completed college, but I don't think that I would have eventually entered if I didn't have that experience.)

I know that I'm a better person for knowing these great folks, and I hope that I am helping them in their discernment. Two meetings left for the semester . . . and then we'll see what next semester will bring!