MY
One of the many confirmations that God has given me for my vocation is the experience of being home. After months in seminary, it started to feel like I was doing homework for homework's sake. While I was at home, I got to serve for Holy Week and Easter liturgies at my home parish. I attended the two Chrism masses in our diocese and the clergy dinners which preceded them. At the Chrism masses, the Holy Oils are blessed. These Oils are used for Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Ordinations, and to anoint Catechumens as they prepare to enter the church. At the mass, the priests present renew the priestly promises they made at their Ordinations. The Chrism mass is a symbol of the entire work of the church, and particularly the diocese, of which I'm a part and in which I will be working, possibly for the rest of my life and ministry.
I'm back at the Josephinum now. Classes have resumed. The challenge of paying complete attention is back as well. I have a philosophy course immediately after lunch - a notoriously difficult class period - and today's lunch featured a Polish table where we share Polish food and culture so we can expand our horizons. I left the table full of sausage and very sleepy, the perfect state of mind for a long and challenging class. Still, through all the challenges, I return to the Josephinum with a renewed sense of purpose. This has been a theme in my posts throughout the year. Everything I do at seminary, although seemingly disconnected from my diocese, difficult, and demanding, points me back toward prayer and my vocation. My work becomes the subject of my prayer - the challenges and joys I face daily. I pray that I might be a good seminarian, so that I can be formed into a priest who loves the people of God in my diocese and in the whole church.
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Catholic. Archives
July 2023
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