Thursdays

Thursdays . . . honestly, they've never been my favorite day of the week. (As Auther Dent says in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, "I could never get the hang of Thursdays.") But I've learned to live with them. I mean, they're not going away any time soon, are they?

I realized tonight, however, how much I had missed attending our seminary's Adoration / Night Prayer / Benediction on Thursdays. Last semester, the Vocations Discernment Group that I lead met on Thursday evenings, and that wasn't a bad thing over all, but I did miss the coming together in prayer with my brothers. It didn't really hit me until we were singing the hymn for Compline. Something inside me breathed a sigh of relief hearing the guys sing. I was home.

I guess that I need these Thursday nights . . . it gives me a break in the week to be in community and in the presence of the Lord in a way that's slowed down and relaxed. It gives me a chance to just be in the midst of the insanity of seminary life. I allow myself to reflect upon the cup, the chalice that the Lord is asking me to drink from, and, on most occassions, I can say, "Yes". And, with diaconate ordination only 125+ days away, I was able to pray a song-prayer from my youth this evening, and truly understand the depths of the message:

Lord, make me like you.
Please make me like you.
You are a servant,
Make me one, too.
O Lord, I am willing;
Do what you must do
To make me like you, Lord.
Please make me like you.
Whatever you do, Lord,
Please make me like you.

Can I drink the cup that the Lord is asking me to drink from? At this moment, I believe I can . . . and that feeling grows each day. Some days the will and ability is strong than others. But, when it comes down to it, I just need to have faith in God and His will for me.


Enjoy the journey . . .