Friday Night Lights

In a homily at a Latin Mass I attended earlier this morning, the priest said how we often pray for the "all the poor souls" in Purgatory, and, while, that's good, they're a heck of a lot closer to heaven then we are, so perhaps calling them poor is quite accurate. He also discussed how Purgatory is God putting back together the pieces of our life to perfection so that we may be made whole to enter in God's eternal glory.

I just thought I'd share that with you before I begin my latest update.

So I'm sitting here on a Friday night as November begins and I can't believe I've been at St. Meinrad for 2 months already. Though I feel like quite a bit has gone on since I last posted. Towards the beginning of the last month, one of my diocesan brothers discerned out of formation for the priesthood. This was a little bit of a shock because him and I were just starting to build a friendship. But I have to say, I am very happy that he heard the Lord's calling in his life and is striving to courageously live it out. Then a few weeks later, I found out that the Bishop of my diocese was being named the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford, CT. Again, sad to see Bishop Blair leave Toledo, but happy for Hartford and Bishop Blair's continued shepherding of his people as he obeys the will of our Holy Father, Pope Francis.

Seminary so far is going really well. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely struggles, but there's also a lot of people around to help you get through them and support you. The other day I was talking with a classmate of mine about trouble I was having with a certain professor and the way he taught our class. My classmate just looked at me when I got down talking and said, "Michael, that's not healthy. Go talk to the guy." So I did. Praise God that He placed people in my life courageous enough to call me out like that.

This past weekend the Director of Vocations for our Diocese came down. As this was my first experience with it, I was a little nervous going into it. But it was great. First, it was nice to see a face and get news about our Diocese. Secondly, we just chatted about how things are going. Thirdly, Cheesecake Factory. Yeah, we had a diocesan outing to the Cheesecake Factory in Louisville and it was delicious! Also, it was just an awesome time to build some fraternal bounding with the guys from my Diocese.

We had a lot of things going on here at the Hill since last I wrote. Our volleyball team went to a tournament and won! Our soccer team hosted a tournament in came to second with the final game coming down to a shootout, and retreat groups have been here almost every weekend. One of the best parts was last night though. For the feast of All Saints day, after we prayed night prayer together, we processed out from the chapel to the cemetery where the monks of the Archabbey who have passed are buried. There, we prayed for their souls and left candles atop their graves. It was really beautiful sight to see. As a seminarian brother of mine commented, "Our faith is not an easy thing to live by (and nor should it be), but it's a beautiful religion to die by." I hope to later share some pictures that were taken of last night to share the beauty.

I would like to close things off tonight with a reflection I had last week.

I was sitting in the chapel in front of the tabernacle before Mass feeling particularly guilty about some things because, well, I'm Catholic and that's what we do. But seriously, I was reflecting on the love of Christ and how He forgives me all my sins even before I commit them. And I was reflected how this is a truth I will never fully accept. My mind can literally never understand this because we only know the broken, human love we find on this earth. Even the greatest and best of human love will never fully understand or come close to how God loves us. And I think that's often why we don't trust Him. Because we can't understand that love and we know we rejected that love. In any human, the way we acted would cause a breach of trust, but God is so much more than that. So much more than the mistrust and conditional love, and that blows my mind. And it humbles me all the more.

I pray that this finds you all doing well. Know of my prayers for you each and every day. But, please, pray for me because, whether I am ordained a priest or not, I have a long way to go.

God bless,

Michael